Is it possible to measure and improve patient satisfaction with anesthesia?

Abstract

Satisfaction cannot be considered as an objective indicator of the quality of anesthesia care, but it remains the best way to assess the outcome from the point of view of the patient. Patient satisfaction offers the opportunity for evaluating nontechnical aspects of medical care, in particular interpersonal relationships arising from specific episodes of care. Satisfaction is usually defined as the result of the comparison between expectations and perceived outcome. If improving patient satisfaction with anesthesia becomes one of the aims of a health service, anesthetists have to consider that when patients have an improved anesthesia experience, their expectations are exceeded, which in turn increases the expectations for subsequent anesthetics. A continuous quality improvement process is needed to maintain patient satisfaction at the highest level.