[Is there a relationship between hospital size and patient experience?].
BACKGROUND
Hospitals in Norway are undergoing changes in structure and organisation. Patient experience has been selected as a national indicator of hospital quality. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between hospital size and patient experience.


METHODS
A patient experience questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of patients after discharge from 46 somatic hospitals, which were classified by function and by annual number of patients admitted.


RESULTS
10,975 patients (50%) responded. Generally, the patients expressed a positive attitude towards their hospitals. The patient experience was significantly more positive among those discharged from small hospitals than among those discharged from medium-sized or large hospitals, especially with regard to organisation.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that patient experience was significantly more positive among those discharged from small hospitals than from medium-sized or large hospitals, especially with regard to organisation. However, the score differences between hospitals are small and should be interpreted with caution.
Holte
Therese Opsahl
TO
Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter for helsetjenesten, Postboks 7004 St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo. therese.opsahl.holte@kunnskapssenteret.no
Bjertnaes
Øyvind Andresen
ØA
Stavem
Knut
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006276:Health Facility Size / Q000592:standards; D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires