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
. 2025 Jul 16:S0007-0912(25)00357-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2025.06.005. Online ahead of print.

Development and internal validation of the patient satisfaction questionnaire: Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia (PQA)-10

Maaike Kesting  1 , Neeti Sharma  2 , Rudolf Debelak  3 , Julia Braun  4 , Donat R Spahn  1 , David W Tscholl  1 , Henrik Fredrich  1 , Greta Gasciauskaite  1 , Justyna Lunkiewicz  5
Affiliations
Free article

Development and internal validation of the patient satisfaction questionnaire: Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia (PQA)-10

Maaike Kesting et al. Br J Anaesth. .
Free article

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of anaesthesia quality. Existing questionnaires often lack patient input on item generation, are too lengthy, or were developed in culturally distinct regions. This study aimed to determine patient-perceived high-quality anaesthesia care and develop a short, validated questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction with peri-anaesthesia care in Switzerland.

Methods: The Swiss Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia questionnaire was developed and validated in two university hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland. A total of 245 patients identified and ranked 42 attributes of high-quality anaesthesia care, leading to the development of key themes using a six-stage thematic analysis. The final questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity with an additional 350 patients.

Results: Three themes were identified: communication during the pre-anaesthetic consultation, side-effects and adverse events, and the interpersonal and professional skills of the anaesthesia team. Test-retest reliability confirmed response consistency. Dimensionality analysis showed strong correlations between overall satisfaction and other item scores (0.68 and 0.74). A three-dimensional model demonstrated a very good fit: Tucker-Lewis Index of 0.977, comparative fit index of 0.985 (both range from 0 to 1; values closer to 1 indicate better fit), root mean squared error of approximation of 0.039 (values below 0.06 suggest good fit), and standardised root mean square residual of 0.04 (values below 0.08 suggest good fit). Average completion time was 146 s (sd 8 s).

Conclusions: This study validated the Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia as a tool for assessing patient satisfaction in individuals receiving anaesthesia care in Switzerland.

Keywords: patient perspective; patient satisfaction; psychometrics; quality improvement; quality in anaesthesia; questionnaire.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations of interest DRS (past 5 years): The Institute of Anesthesiology of the University Hospital Zurich is receiving grant support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Berne, Switzerland, and CSL Vifor (International) AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland. DRS was head of the Institute of Anesthesiology at the USZ at the time the study was conducted and is now retired. DRS is co-chair of the ABC-Trauma Faculty, sponsored by unrestricted educational grants from Alexion Pharma Germany GmbH, Munich, Germany; CSL Behring GmbH, Marburg, Germany; and LFB Biomédicaments, Courtaboeuf Cedex, France. DRS received honoraria/travel support for consulting or lecturing from: Alliance Rouge, Bern, Switzerland; Danube University of Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria; European Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Brussels, Belgium; International Foundation for Patient Blood Management, Basel, Switzerland; Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, Seoul, Korea; Network for the Advancement of Patient Blood Management, Haemostasis and Thrombosis, Paris, France; Society for the Advancement of Blood Management, Mount Royal, NJ, USA; Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boston, MA, USA; AstraZeneca AG, Baar, Switzerland; Baxter AG, Glattpark, Switzerland; Bayer AG, Zurich, Switzerland; B. Braun Melsungen AG, Melsungen, Germany; CSL Behring GmbH, Hattersheim am Main, Germany and Berne, Switzerland; CSL Vifor (Switzerland), Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland; CSL Vifor (International), St. Gallen, Switzerland; Celgene International II Sàrl, Couvet, Switzerland; Daiichi Sankyo AG, Thalwil, Switzerland; Haemonetics, Braintree, MA, USA; iSEP, Nantes, France; Novo Nordisk Health Care AG, Zurich, Switzerland; Octapharma AG, Lachen, Switzerland; Pharmacosmos A/S, Holbaek, Denmark; Pierre Fabre Pharma, Alschwil, Switzerland; Portola Schweiz GmbH, Aarau, Switzerland; Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, Reinach, Switzerland; Shire Switzerland GmbH, Zug, Switzerland; Werfen, Bedford, MA, USA; and Zuellig Pharma Holdings, Singapore, Singapore. DWT is an inventor of Visual Patient, Visual Patient Predictive, Visual Clot, Visual Blood, and Visual Haemofilter technologies, with intellectual property held by the University of Zurich and Philips, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Through joint-development and licensing agreements with Philips, DWT receives research funding, honoraria, royalties, and travel support. Additional honoraria and support have been provided by Instrumentation Laboratory–Werfen, the Swiss Foundation for Anaesthesia Research, and the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. DWT serves on the Philips Patient Safety Advisory Board. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

LinkOut - more resources