Study on the influencing factors for patient satisfaction at tertiary hospitals in China

Objective\r\nTo study patient satisfaction at tertiary hospitals in China, and explore the influence of such factors as sociodemographic and institutional characteristics on the their satisfaction.\r\n\r\n\r\nMethods\r\nBased on the third round third party evaluation of China Healthcare Improvement Initiative(the Initiative), a patient satisfaction survey was made from December 2017 to January 2018 at 136 public tertiary hospitals across the country.Chi-square test and binary multivariate logistic regression methods were used to identify influencing factors for patient satisfaction.\r\n\r\n\r\nResults\r\nPatient satisfaction varies significantly among hospitals of different types, regions and institution affiliations.Satisfaction of outpatients at their local hospitals was 1.395 times higher than those hospitals under the National Health Commission, and that of inpatients at the central regions was 1.352 times higher than those of the eastern region.Gender, department, education level, medical insurance, patient source and registration method were significant influencing factors for overall satisfaction of outpatients(P\u003c0.05); Region, department and occupation were significant influencing factors of overall satisfaction of inpatients(P\u003c0.05).\r\n\r\n\r\nConclusions\r\nThe allocation of medical resources should consider hospital type and region.The affordability of medical expenses and fairness of medical insurance system deserve more attention.The satisfaction of women and children patients should be improved by providing high-quality and humane medical and nursing care.\r\n\r\n\r\nKey words: \r\nPatient satisfaction; Outpatients; Inpatients; Influencing factors; Third party evaluation