Patient Satisfaction at Tertiary Level Healthcare Services in Greece: Inpatient vs Outpatient Healthcare Services Assessment

The aim of this research is to investigate in- and out-patient satisfaction as revealed by patients’ assessment in the Konstantopouleio General Hospital of Athens. The sample of the study consisted of 745 inpatients and 420 outpatients from a survey performed from June 2011 till October 2012. An ordered logit approach was used that allows for different satisfaction response categories. Medical and nursery staff attention to patients along with the hospital environment and administration positively correlate with patient satisfaction in both groups of in- and out-patients. Among the demographic factors, only age positively relates to patient satisfaction in both groups. While the perceived health status plays a positive and significant role in shaping only the in-patient satisfaction, education and insurance positively associate only with out-patient satisfaction. Our study confirms the important role of hospital performance measures, proxied by the hospital care delivered, as well as the socio-demographic factors. In general, hospitals and healthcare systems that invest in citizens’ evaluation evolvement and patients’ assessment programmes, are expected to acquire valuable information to perform important transformational changes-reforms in their healthcare services.