Satisfaction Survey of Greek Inpatients with Brain Cancer

Abstract

To investigate brain cancer patients' satisfaction hospitalised in a tertiary care university public hospital in Alexandroupolis, Greece, in order to improve medical, nursing, and organizational-administrative services. This cross-sectional study involved 163 patients having been hospitalised for at least 24 hours. The patients were asked to fill in a satisfaction questionnaire previously approved by the Greek Ministry of Health. Four aspects of satisfaction were investigated (medical, hotel accommodation/ organisational facilities, nursing, global). Using Principal Component Analysis, summated scales were formed and tested for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The non parametric Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was also used and the threshold p-value for statistical significance (2-sided) was set at 0.05. The results revealed a high degree of global satisfaction (73.31%), yet satisfaction was higher for the medical (88.88%) and nursing (84.26%) services. Moreover, satisfaction derived from the accommodation facilities and the general organisation was found to be more limited (74.17%). Statistically significant differences (based on various demographic variables) in the participants' global satisfaction were not observed. On the contrary, self-assessment of health status at admission was negatively correlated with medical (r(s)=-0.157, p=0.045) and nursing (r(s)=-0.168, p=0.032) satisfaction. Greek citizenship contributed to bigger satisfaction scores in the accommodation/organisational facilities dimension (r(s)=0.158, p=0.044). Finally, age was positively linked to nursing satisfaction (r(s)=0.181, p=0.02). The present study confirmed in part the results of previously published Greek surveys assessing general patient populations. However, more studies are urgently needed to confirm these findings in a much bigger brain cancer population.