Examining satisfaction of older adult patients and their caregivers following traumatic injury: a cross-sectional study of three level I trauma centres

Abstract

Objective To explore satisfaction of care received by older adult patients and their primary caregivers following traumatic injury.Design Prospective, cross-sectional study using the FAMCARE (Family Satisfaction with Advanced Cancer Care Scale) satisfaction surveys prior to discharge.Setting Three level I trauma centres in Colorado from November 2016 to December 2017.Participants Trauma patients ≥55 years old and their primary caregivers.Outcome measures Overall mean (SD) satisfaction, satisfaction <80% vs ≥80%, and mean satisfaction by survey conceptual structures.Results Of the 319 patients and 336 caregivers included, the overall mean (SD) patient satisfaction was 81.7% (15.0%) and for caregivers was 83.6% (13.4%). The area with the highest mean for patient and caregiver satisfaction was psychosocial care (85.4% and 86.9%, respectively). Information giving was the lowest for patients (80.4%) and caregivers (80.9%). When individual items were examined, patients were significantly more satisfied with ‘availability of nurses to answer questions’ (84.5 (15.3) vs 87.4 (14.8), p=0.02) and significantly less satisfied with ‘speed with which symptoms were treated’ (80.6 (17.9) vs 84.0 (17.0), p=0.03) compared with caregivers. Patients with a history of smoking (least squares mean difference: −0.096 (−0.18 to –0.07), p<0.001) and hospital discharge destination to an outside facility of care (adjusted OR: 1.6 (1.0 to 2.4), p=0.048) were identified as independent predictors of lower overall satisfaction in generalised linear and logistic models, respectively.Conclusions Our data suggest that patients’ medical history was driving both patient and caregiver satisfaction. Patient characteristics and expectations need to be considered when tailoring healthcare interventions.