The efficiency of any given healthcare organization depends on patient satisfaction levels. Clinics and other facilities must acknowledge and appreciate the significant role played by different aspects of patient satisfaction, including wait time, engagement, friendliness of staff, ease of access to much-needed care. In this regard, our facility, which serves 10,000 patients each year, would seek to establish patient satisfaction by conducting a comprehensive survey. Using closed-ended questions, the organization in question would ask the participants to rate their experiences with the facility. According to Keogh and Tenable (2011), the questions involved must remain not only clear and concise but also simple with the sole purpose of allowing the same interpretation.
Survey questions
The success of the survey would revolve around the following five questions formulated with the sole purpose of evaluating patient satisfaction:
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How long did it take the provider (beyond the appointment time) to see you?
Given a scale from 1 to 5, can you tell whether you are extremely dissatisfied or satisfied with the care provided at our facility during your visit?
Given a scale from 0 to 10, are you extremely dissatisfied or extremely satisfied with the ease with which you accessed care at the facility?
When given an opportunity, are likely to advise your family member, friends, or acquaintances to visit our clinic.
When you visited us, how friendly were our staff members, including the receptionist?
Data Gathering Methods
As stated in the introduction, the most appropriate data gathering method for this scenario is surveyed. The hospital would rely on patient satisfaction survey results to develop the much-needed quality improvement programs and initiatives. According to Polit and Beck (2017) and Groene et al. (2011), the same data can enhance the facility’s benchmarking and marketing activities. The researchers firmly believe that the surveys can reach out to the largest possible patient population, which, in turn, increases the hospital’s ability to determine the ever-changing and pressing needs by individual patients.
Sample Size
The whole process of determining sample size revolves around unknown, as well as, known or finite population. In this context, we have the finite population, and the facility can use the Yamane method or formula ( Messina et al., 2009 ): n Y = N / (1 + Ne 2 ). In this case, N and e refer to known population and alpha or error level, respectively. For example, if the confidence level is 0.95, the error level = 0.05. Since our facility serves 10,000 patients annually, we can calculate the sample size as follows:
n Y = 10,000 / (1 + 10,000(0.0025)
n Y = 10,000 / 25
n Y = 400 participants or counts.
References
Groene, O., et al. (2011). Is the maturity of hospitals' quality improvement systems associated with measures of quality and patient safety? BMC Health Services Research, 11 : 344.
Keough, V. & Tanabe, P. (2011). Survey research: An effective design for conducting nursing research. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 1 (4), 37–44.
Messina, D. et al. (2009). The relationship between patient satisfaction and inpatient admissions across teaching and nonteaching hospitals. Journal of Healthcare Management, 54 (3), 177-89.
Polit, D. & Beck, C. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice . Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
