Patients' opinions on quality of care before and after implementation of a short stay programme following breast cancer surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To assess breast cancer patients' opinions on quality of care during an implementation study on short hospital stay, and to formulate patient inspired targets for further quality improvement based on results of the QUOTE (Quality of Care Through the Patients' Eyes) breast cancer instrument.


RESULTS
Quality of patient education regarding activities at home was in need of improvement in both measurements. Quality of services delivered by the surgeon improved somewhat after implementation. Although quality of waiting and process times improved after implementation, there was still room for further improvement on these aspects.


CONCLUSIONS
A breast cancer care programme in short stay was introduced while, on average, preserving quality of care as perceived by the patient. However, aspects regarding education on drains, prosthesis, exercises after surgery, survival rates, and waiting and process times require continuing attention to enhance patients' assessment of quality of care.
de Kok
M
M
Department of Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P. Debeyelaan 25, Maastricht, The Netherlands. m.dekok@ah.unimaas.nl
van der Weijden
T
T
Kessels
A G H
AG
Dirksen
C D
CD
Sixma
H J M
HJ
van de Velde
C J H
CJ
Roukema
J A
JA
Finaly-Marais
C
C
van der Ent
F W C
FW
von Meyenfeldt
M F
MF
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires