Determinants of patient satisfaction in ambulatory oncology: a cross sectional study based on the OUT-PATSAT35 questionnaire

Abstract

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with satisfaction with care in cancer patients undergoing ambulatory treatment. We investigated associations between patients' baseline clinical and socio-demographic characteristics, as well as self-reported quality of life, and satisfaction with care. Methods Patients undergoing ambulatory chemotherapy or radiotherapy in 2 centres in France were invited, at the beginning of their treatment, to complete the OUT-PATSAT35, a 35 item and 13 scale questionnaire evaluating perception of doctors, nurses and aspects of care organisation. Additionally, for each patient, socio-demographic variables, clinical characteristics and self-reported quality of life using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire were recorded. Results Among 692 patients included between January 2005 and December 2006, only 6 were non-responders. By multivariate analysis, poor perceived global health strongly predicted dissatisfaction with care (p Conclusions A number of clinical of socio-demographic factors were significantly associated with different scales of the satisfaction questionnaire. However, the main determinant was the patient's global health status, underlining the importance of measuring and adjusting for self-perceived health status when evaluating satisfaction. Further analyses are currently ongoing to determine the responsiveness of the OUT-PATSAT35 questionnaire to changes over time.

Keywords

• Patient satisfaction
• Ambulatory oncology
• Quality of life