Patient satisfaction in military medicine: status and an empirical test of a model.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is concerned about how well military medical treatment facilities in the military health system perform. Patient expectations, attitudes, and health care use have been examined in numerous studies; the results are fairly consistent. Eligible beneficiaries report moderate satisfaction with the health care received. In 1994-2001, annual DoD and monthly ambulatory patient surveys were conducted in military medical treatment facilities. The DoD surveys document how patients perceive the care provided. The obvious research concerns are: requirements for conducting surveys; who should be surveyed: eligible beneficiaries or actual users; when; where; representative sample; how often to conduct assessment; data collection methods; analytic schemes; overall trends; predictors of satisfaction; use of results; and timeliness of findings. This study examines these issues and analyzes raw data from selected annual DoD and monthly ambulatory surveys. The overall level of perceived satisfaction has been "good" over the years surveys were used. The model demonstrated the use of examining demographic and attitudinal components of patient satisfaction in military medical facilities.