title: The importance of measuring customer satisfaction in palliative care.
abstract: In the last decades, palliative care has been more and more focused on the evaluation of patients' and families' satisfaction with care. However, the evaluation of customer satisfaction in palliative care presents a number of issues such as the presence of both patients and their families, the frail condition of the patients and the complexity of their needs, and the lack of standard quality indicators and appropriate measurement tools. In this manuscript, we critically review existing evidence and literature on the evaluation of satisfaction in the palliative care context. Moreover, we provide - as a practical example - the preliminary results of our experience in this setting with the development of a dedicated tool for the measurement of satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turriziani
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Attanasio
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scarcella
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sangalli
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scopa
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Genualdo
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quici
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nazzicone
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Adelaide
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ricciotti
authors.affiliation: Hospice Villa Speranza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Commare
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: customer satisfaction; families; palliative care; quality of life; terminally ill patients