Patient satisfaction questionnaires for primary care out-of-hours services: a systematic review.
BACKGROUND
Patient satisfaction questionnaires are increasingly used for assessing quality of care.


OBJECTIVE
To review the evidence for the reliability and validity of patient satisfaction questionnaires for out-of-hours care.


METHODS
Systematic review.


METHODS
Primary care out-of-hours services.


METHODS
Searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE((R)) and PsycINFO using terms relevant to the measurement of patient satisfaction and out-of-hours services. Abstracts were reviewed and information relating to questionnaire content, data quality, reliability, and validity were extracted from articles by two independent researchers.


RESULTS
Four questionnaires were found, two from the UK - the Patient Satisfaction with Out-of-Hours Care (PSOC) and Short Questionnaire for Out-of-Hours Care (SQOC) - and two from the Netherlands - the van Uden and Moll van Charante questionnaires. Questionnaire content was based on literature reviews and expert opinion; the PSOC and Moll van Charante questionnaires were also developed following interviews or focus groups with patients. Cronbach's alpha values were below 0.7 for some scales within the PSOC and van Uden questionnaires. Test-retest reliability was reported for the PSOC and Moll van Charante questionnaires. Tests of validity were few and did not give explicit consideration to the size of expected associations.


CONCLUSIONS
Potential users wishing to assess patient satisfaction should carefully consider the content of the questionnaires and its relevance to the application and patient group. The four questionnaires have limitations relating to their development and evaluation. The PSOC and van Uden questionnaires have low levels of reliability for some scales, which should be used with caution in future surveys.
Garratt
Andrew M
AM
Institute of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Oslo and Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, Norway. andrew.garratt@kunnskapssenteret.no
Danielsen
Kirsten
K
Hunskaar
Steinar
S
D039602:After-Hours Care / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*