title: Survey response rates and overall patient satisfaction scores: what do they mean?
abstract: Within the health care community, more and more emphasis is being placed on patient satisfaction. This study was undertaken in a midwestern, nonprofit, 300-bed acute care hospital to gain a better understanding of how nonresponse rates and patient characteristics affect patient satisfaction scores. With a response rate of 34.2%, it appears that nonresponse bias may have an impact. When looking at variables that may affect the overall score, the multiple regression model used in this analysis was able to explain only 7.5% of the variability in the overall satisfaction score seeming to indicate the unpredictability of the score. This study supports the need to analyze groups of patients rather than patients as a whole to determine what affects their response, both within and between healthcare organizations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Technology, Iowa Health System, Sioux City 51104, USA. spoonesh@stlukes.org
authors.forename: Susan H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Spooner
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000523:psychology; D015982:Bias; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D020380:Needs Assessment; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017749:Total Quality Management