Which aspects of patient experience are the 'moment of truth' in the healthcare context: a multicentre cross-sectional study in China

Objective This study aimed to examine the differential magnitude of associations between specific dimensions of patient experience and overall patient satisfaction. Design A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used to collect patient experience and overall satisfaction data. Setting Participants were recruited at one tertiary general hospital, one tertiary specialised hospital, and one secondary hospital in Shanghai, China. These three institutes represent the main kinds of hospitals in the Chinese healthcare system. Participants 1532 inpatients were recruited, and 1469 were included. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) having received inpatient service for at least 2 days; (2) able to understand the questions in the questionnaires; and (3) aged>18 years old. Patients who had impaired cognitive function and completed the questionnaires with missing information were excluded. Primary and secondary outcome measure Patient experience was measured using the Inpatient Experience with Nursing Care Scale, which is widely used in the China. The overall patient satisfaction was measured with 10-point response option. Results The LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression results showed that as the penalty factor (lambda) = 0.0162, age, marriage status, financial status, length of hospital stay and numbers of previous of hospitalisation and six dimensions of nursing care remained in the model. As lambda increases to 0.1862, only four patient experience variables, potentially the most influential on patient satisfaction, remained in the model. Patient experience with emotional support was the most significant dimension explaining patient satisfaction (beta=0.1564), the second most significant dimension was admission and discharge management (beta=0.1562), and the third was monitoring and coping with the progress of diseases (beta=0.0613). Conclusion Patient experience with emotional support, admission and discharge management, monitoring and coping with the progress of diseases, and information and education are the most significant dimensions explaining patient satisfaction.