title: [Satisfaction with hospital care among diabetic outpatients and its associated factors. Secondary use of official statistics].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Generalizable data on current satisfaction levels are required to establish a scientific basis for the political advancement of measures to improve satisfaction with hospital care among patients with diabetes. The present study made secondary use of existing official statistics in order to demonstrate the range of satisfaction levels with hospital care among diabetic outpatients and to closely examine related factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data sets that consolidated the Patient Survey, the Survey of Medical Care Institutions, and the Patient Behavior Survey (all from 2008) were created. Shared medical institution survey reference numbers were used to consolidate the data from the Patient Survey and the Survey of Medical Care Institutions, and in addition, sex and date of birth were used to consolidate the Patient Behavior Survey data. The range of satisfaction levels with hospital care among diabetic outpatients was investigated along with any relationship with the following potentially related factors: visitation status (first or repeat examination); waiting time until examination; examination duration; care-seeking status (any use of other medical facilities, etc.); diabetic complications; other complications; coverage under the Public Assistance Act; smoking cessation outpatient services; hospitals that specialized in treating diabetes (metabolic medicine); medical care on Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays; and provision of health checkups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 62.3% of diabetic outpatients were either fairly or extremely satisfied with their hospital care, whereas 5.6% expressed dissatisfaction. Satisfaction levels with hospital care were found to be significantly related to visitation status, waiting time until examination, examination duration, care-seeking status, and Saturday medical care. Multivariate analysis with the factors demonstrated to be significantly related to satisfaction revealed significant relationships between high satisfaction levels and repeat examinations, short waiting times, no use of any other medical facilities, and long examinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consolidating official statistics from multiple sources indicated the range of satisfaction levels with hospital care among diabetic outpatients and facilitated the clarification of factors affecting satisfaction. Reducing waiting times and ensuring sufficient time spent on examinations are important for increasing satisfaction levels with hospital care among patients with diabetes. It is hoped that official statistics can be further applied to many future public health policy studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Jichi Medical University.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuboi
authors.forename: Ritei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uehara
authors.forename: Taeko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oguma
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kojo
authors.forename: Tsogzolbaatar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Enkh-Oyun
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kotani
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoyama
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okayama
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Zentaro
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Kota
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katanoda
authors.forename: Yosikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Tomotaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sobue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult