Patient's satisfaction with perioperative care: development, validation, and application of a questionnaire

Background: Measuring patient satisfaction after anaesthesia care is complex.The existing patient satisfaction questionnaires are limitedand omit aspects of patient satisfaction, such as professionalcompetence, information provision, service, and staff–patientrelationship. The aim of our study was to develop a valid andreliable self-reported multidimensional questionnaire assessingpatient satisfaction that included these issues. Methods: The development of the Leiden Perioperative care Patient Satisfactionquestionnaire (LPPSq) was as follows: expert consultation, constructionof the pilot questionnaire, pilot study, statistical analysisof the results of the pilot study (validity, reliability, andfactor analysis), compilation of the definitive questionnaire,main study, and repeated statistical analysis (validity, reliability,and factor analysis). The overall patient satisfaction is expressedby the mean satisfaction score. Results: Three hundred and eighty-two patients consented to participatein the study; 80.4% of the patients (n=307) completed the questionnaire.The LPPSq isolated three dimensions: information (Cronbach’s=0.82), fear and concern (Cronbach’s =0.69), and staff–patientrelationship (Cronbach’s =0.94). Patient satisfactionwith perioperative care was not directly dependent on the outcomesof anaesthesia but how patients were approached and the amountof information they received. Age (P=0.001), gender (P=0.001),work situation (P=0.003), and specialty (P=0.017) were the characteristicsmost influencing patient satisfaction. Conclusions: We developed the LPPSq questionnaire to measure patient satisfactionwith perioperative care, of which anaesthesia care is an importantelement. In this study, information provision and the relationshipbetween staff and patient were the major determinants of patientsatisfaction.