Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Sep;57(542):741-7.

Patient satisfaction questionnaires for primary care out-of-hours services: a systematic review

Andrew M Garratt  1 , Kirsten Danielsen, Steinar Hunskaar
Affiliations

Patient satisfaction questionnaires for primary care out-of-hours services: a systematic review

Andrew M Garratt et al. Br J Gen Pract. 2007 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction questionnaires are increasingly used for assessing quality of care.

Aim: To review the evidence for the reliability and validity of patient satisfaction questionnaires for out-of-hours care.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Primary care out-of-hours services.

Method: Searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE((R)) and PsycINFO using terms relevant to the measurement of patient satisfaction and out-of-hours services. Abstracts were reviewed and information relating to questionnaire content, data quality, reliability, and validity were extracted from articles by two independent researchers.

Results: Four questionnaires were found, two from the UK - the Patient Satisfaction with Out-of-Hours Care (PSOC) and Short Questionnaire for Out-of-Hours Care (SQOC) - and two from the Netherlands - the van Uden and Moll van Charante questionnaires. Questionnaire content was based on literature reviews and expert opinion; the PSOC and Moll van Charante questionnaires were also developed following interviews or focus groups with patients. Cronbach's alpha values were below 0.7 for some scales within the PSOC and van Uden questionnaires. Test-retest reliability was reported for the PSOC and Moll van Charante questionnaires. Tests of validity were few and did not give explicit consideration to the size of expected associations.

Conclusion: Potential users wishing to assess patient satisfaction should carefully consider the content of the questionnaires and its relevance to the application and patient group. The four questionnaires have limitations relating to their development and evaluation. The PSOC and van Uden questionnaires have low levels of reliability for some scales, which should be used with caution in future surveys.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Hallam L. Out-of-hours primary care. BMJ. 1997;314(7075):157–158. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hansen BL, Munck A. Out-of-hours service in Denmark: the effect of structural change. Br J Gen Pract. 1998;48(433):1497–1499. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Salisbury C, Dale J, Hallam L. 24-hour primary care. Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press; 1999.
    1. Glynn LG, Byrne M, Newell J, Murphy AW. The effect of health status on patients' satisfaction with out-of-hours care provided by a family doctor co-operative. Fam Pract. 2004;21(6):677–683. - PubMed
    1. Moll van Charante E, Giesen P, Mokkink H, et al. Patient satisfaction with large-scale out-of-hours primary health care in the Netherlands: development of a postal questionnaire. Fam Pract. 2006;23(4):437–443. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources