Patient Satisfaction and Surgery: Can It Be Measured?

Recent efforts in improving health care quality have focused on patient satisfaction. The use of patient-reported outcomes is becoming increasingly common and gaining in importance as a measure of quality of care. Patient satisfaction, the best illustration of the patient-reported outcomes, is a complex concept. The advantages of measuring patient satisfaction are clear, and there are ongoing efforts to measure it in a standardized fashion. Several health care organizations have adopted measures to accomplish this goal, both in the United States and abroad. Despite the increasing number of instruments, the concept of patient satisfaction is still poorly understood and therefore frequently incorrectly measured.