Patient Satisfaction Survey Essay

Healthcare is a very important aspect of today’s society. Thus, there is a conscious effort on the part of all stakeholders to constantly monitor the quality of healthcare services provided to patients in order to determine the need for improvement or innovation. The primary concern of this effort is the improvement of the present health condition of the people and the ethical concept of promoting life itself due to which, significant efforts and concerns are always given for the quality of healthcare services. (Fleming, 2004, 16). In order to effect this laudable goal of assessing the quality of healthcare provided by different concerned institutions, tools such as surveys are developed and used. Surveys that assess the level of satisfaction derived by patients from health care providers could be helpful for the improvement of services (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2007). On a daily basis, feedback from patients could give insight on the kind of service they experience in hospitals or other medical facilities (Kowalczyk, 2005; Fahy, 2008). Medicare, in an effort to understand the needs and experiences of patients, came up with the Patient Satisfaction Survey program. Problem Statement. In order to gain better understanding of the Patient Satisfaction Survey, as well as its effects on the behavior of professionals belonging to the health care industry, research that is based mainly on current literature is aimed to be conducted. Review of existing literature on the subject of patient satisfaction through the Medicare program called Patient Satisfaction Survey (Health Resources and Services Administration) could give substantial information on the institutions that implemented the project and feedback from different stakeholders. Such information could shed light on the effectiveness of the project vis-a-vis the intent for its launch. Patient satisfaction on the kind of service received from health care institutions like hospitals could be determined through the survey tool formulated by Medicare (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2007). Hospitals who implement the program would be able to churn out a good number of accomplished survey forms on a daily basis (Kowalczyk, 2005; Fahy, 2008). Research on data from such institutions would therefore be very helpful in gaining insight on the kind of performance that a hospital is able to give to its patients. The literature review could give answers to a lot of heretofore unanswered questions concerning various aspects of the health care industry, such as the speed with which a patient’s call is attended to by a health care professional, the degree of attention given by a physician to a patient’s concerns, and the cleanliness of health care facilities (Kowalczyk, 2005; Skehan & Petrillo, 2003). Significance of the Study  Since the Medicare Survey, particularly the questions and answers, would be posted on its website in an effort to push hospitals into improving health care and promote quality service delivery (Kowalczyk, 2005; Skehan & Petrillo, 2003), current literature could help paint a picture of the state of health services being given to patients across the United States today. Existing literature could also show how far implementation of the project has come through, especially the institutions that have adopted and enforced the program. A particular question that needs to be addressed by the literature is the effect of the survey results on the perception and belief of patients on the hospitals they choose to serve their medical needs. Thus, it is important that the facts to be gathered include tables, graphs and statistics that would show the general trend and effect of the survey results on the mindset of the patients.