A Cross-sectional Sarvey of Patient Safisfacfion after Acupuncture Treatment in Japan / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Recently, the importance of patient satisfaction emerged in the context of providing high-quality health care. However, the level of patient satisfaction with acupuncture treatment and the factors that influence satisfaction have not been investigated. We conducted a cross-sectional survey on the satisfaction of patients who consult acupuncture clinics and investigated factors that have a certain influence on the level of satisfaction using multivariate analysis.<BR>Subjects in the present study consisted of 2210 patients who consulted acupuncture clinics that were randomly selected from the alumni association of Meiji University of Oriental Medicine. The survey was conducted between July 10 through July 23, 2000 using our original questionnaire which consists of questions about health state and basic information about the patient, environment of the clinic, assessment of the practitioner by the patient and overall patient satisfaction with the clinic. Sampling of the subject was made using stratified random sampling method and the questionnaires were returned directly from the patient by mail.<BR>Of 2210 patients given the questionnaire, 1, 319 (59.7%) responded. Mean (SD) level of the total satisfaction with the clinic evaluated using 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) was 81.4 (13.8). Simple linear regression analysis showed that the degree of explanation given by the practitioner was significantly related to patient satisfaction, while multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of treatment, treatment skill of the practitioner, patient's reliance on the practitioner, clean environment of the consultation room, depth of the practitioner's understanding of the patient and willingness of the practitioner to answer questions were factors significantly related with the patient's satisfaction.<BR>In the present study, there was high overall satisfaction among patients consulting acupuncture clinics and the factors influencing satisfaction could be classified into three kinds factors relating to the quality of treatment, communication factors between the patient and practitioner, and environmental factors related to the clinic.