Measuring Patient Satisfaction In Oncology

236 Background: Improving the patient experience has been an increasingly important quality improvement goal for most health care institutions; however, all patients are not equal. Within the oncology community exist a host of unique needs that must be identified, measured, and addressed. Commercially available questionnaires are too general and often non-diagnostic. The goal of our study was to develop a method to better identify, quantify, and address the needs of this population.Over 60 hours of in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a diverse population of patients (n=68), physicians (n=28), nurses. and technologists (n=33) at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. A customized patient-experience questionnaire was created from the qualitative data obtained. A balanced incomplete block design was used so each patient answered only 60 questions, while the questionnaire contained over 85 questions. The questionnaire was administered via email to approximately 30,000 patients over one week time period.A total of 4,179 patients completed the survey with average completion time of 24 minutes. A total of 6,909 opened the email invitation, 6,007 began the survey (a 69% completed/began response rate). Non-response bias was monitored via a short survey completed by 2,094 patients. Analysis revealed little difference between respondents and non-respondents. The survey results showed the following: (1) when relevant, a patient will complete a lengthy survey (2) a patient's perception of their experience is directly related to how they perceive themselves (a number, customer, patient, or loved family member) (3) higher satisfaction is correlated with perception of a "unique" interaction or service (e.g. a visit with a sub-specialty oncologist versus one with a parking attendant).Proper survey techniques are necessary to identify, measure, and address the needs of oncology patients. Contrary to popular belief, patients are willing to complete lengthy questionnaires with little survey fatigue. Positive patient experiences correlate with patient perceptions of provider empathy, caring, and treatment similar to that of a "loved family member" as well as unique, health care services.