Comparison of health care professionals' self-assessments of standards of care and patients' opinions on the care they received in hospital: observational study.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the views of healthcare professionals and patients regarding compliance with standards of care concerning patient information.


METHODS
Self-rated questionnaire survey.


METHODS
Nine wards in short stay French hospitals.


METHODS
939 patients and 359 healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, assistants and other professionals).


METHODS
Patients' and healthcare professionals' views of compliance with 20 standards of patient care described in the French accreditation manual. Comparison of the rank order of the standards within the two samples.


RESULTS
The response rate was 61.5% in the patient group and 85.8% in the healthcare professionals. The rank orders for the 20 items were similar in both groups (Spearman rank order correlation 0.6, p = 0.004). The two items ranked highest by healthcare professionals ("consent request for a surgical procedure" and "the doctors ask the visitors to leave the room before examining a patient") were also the two ranked highest by the patients. Three items were ranked low by both groups: "consent request for students to be present", "health education given to patients", and "possibility to express satisfaction during discharge". Patients were more satisfied with their pain management than were healthcare providers. Professionals were more satisfied with the social services than the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
There are both similarities and differences between patients' and healthcare professionals' views of care. Accurate assessments of quality performed during the accreditation procedure require that both patients' and professionals' views be taken into account.
Durieux
P
P
Department of Public Health and Medical Informatics, Faculté de Médecine Broussais Hôtel Dieu and Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France. pierre.durieux@spim.jussieu.fr
Bissery
A
A
Dubois
S
S
Gasquet
I
I
Coste
J
J
D000068:Accreditation; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006302:Health Services Research; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires