out-patients' expectations of bone scans: do they influence satisfaction?

Abstract

within the health care sector there is a renewed emphasis on the satisfaction of patients and their involvement in its' evaluation. there is also some evidence to suggest that the expectations of patients play a fundamental part in forming this satisfaction. this study aimed to establish the expectations of bone scan patients who attended a nuclear medicine department and consequently measured their satisfaction after the visit. a possible link between the two was assessed. a questionnaire survey was undertaken to assess the patients' expectations prior to their visit and subsequently their satisfaction after their scan. the questionnaires included comment sections to encourage the addition of free text to the questionnaires by the patients. a total of 181 patients were included in the analysis which provided a range of expectations, with most patients expressing high importance to those expectations. generally satisfaction was found to be high. statistical analysis of the results showed a significant positive correlation between the expectations of patients and their satisfaction. the expectations of patients may therefore be targeted by health professionals in their attempts to provide the care patients need and deserve.