Patient and health professional satisfaction with an interdisciplinary patient safety program

Abstract

Background Measuring humanistic outcomes is an important component of valuating healthcareservices. There is a paucity of data on satisfaction with pharmacist implemented clinical services in long-term care settings. Objective To evaluate patient and health professional (HP) satisfaction with an interdisciplinary patient safety program performed in elderly patients with polypharmacy admitted to a long-term care hospital (LTCH). Method An interventional, longitudinal, prospective study was conducted in a Spanish LTCH. Pharmacist conducted the pharmacotherapy follow-up (reconciliation, pharmacotherapeutic optimization and educational interviews). Two satisfaction surveys were designed on a 10-point Likert-type scale. The patient survey was administered at discharge. The HP survey included the following dimensions: knowledge and program importance, pharmacist skills and pharmacist contributions to the interdisciplinary team. A reliability analysis was performed. Results 123 surveys were completed and returned; 74 patient surveys (response rate 97.4%) and 49 HP surveys (response rate 98.0%). The overall mean score of the patient survey was 9.46 ± 0.87, resulting in 82.4% very satisfied and 17.6% satisfied. The overall mean score of the HP survey was 8.85 ± 1.42, resulting in 65.3% very satisfied and 30.6% satisfied. Conclusion Elderly patients with polypharmacy and HPs reported high levels of satisfaction with the interdisciplinary patient safety program implemented in an LTCH. This positive response supports the value of pharmacists for managing older high-risk populations.