Quality of hospital care evaluated by Danish nurses and doctors--based on experience from their own or a close family member's hospitalization.

Introduction: No studies have systematically asked larger groups of health professionals about their own experience as patients. This study estimated the level of satisfaction with hospital care among health professionals based on experience from their own hospital admission or that of a close family member.

Methodology: A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 1995 doctors (41% women) and 1472 nurses (98% women) drawn randomly from union registers. Response rate: 70%.

Results: Twenty-seven percent had themselves been hospitalized within the preceding five years, and 31% had followed a hospital stay for a close relative during the preceding two years. At least 85% were satisfied with these conditions: information from the hospital, nursing staff, and doctors before admission; quality of the sickroom; level of smoke exposure; quality of breakfast, lunch, and beverages; nursing staff's and doctors' communication with the patient, and; doctors' treatment and diagnostics. Dissatisfaction above 15% was seen for several other factors associated with facilities, care, and treatment. One severe observation was related to the degree of treatment complications, reported by 23% of the patients. When reporting on behalf of an admitted relative a tendency was found to be slightly more critical. Generally, the results of this study are in agreement with previous Danish studies on patient satisfaction.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate room for improvement in several respects in Danish hospital care: Better physical facilities, improved patient information, and a continuous quality surveillance to prevent treatment errors.