The Open Geriatric Medicine Journal

2009, 2 : 1-4
Published online 2009 January 23. DOI: 10.2174/1874827900902010001
Publisher ID: TOGERIMJ-2-1

Customer Satisfaction as a Quality Factor in Geriatric Rehabilitation

Mauro Colombo , Antonio Guaita , Albert Cottino , Marco Cairati , Danila Ferrari , Giorgio Previderè , Giuseppe Procino , Maria Carla Gandolfi , Rosaria Tararà and Angela Mercanti
Geriatric Institute Camillo Golgi, 11 piazza Golgi, Abbiategrasso, Milan 20081, Italy.

ABSTRACT

Customer satisfaction is relevant for geriatric rehabilitation, besides objective outcomes. We aimed at measuring customer satisfaction at discharge from our rehabilitative wards, and at singling out its predictive factors. We studied 506 elderly patients, aged 78 ± 8 years. Satisfaction at discharge scored high in all 4-levels graded items of a questionnaire surveying perception of patient improvement, quality of rehabilitative treatment, physicians’ and nurses’ intervention, personal care, lodging quality, goodness of information got. Mean overall rating (scoring 0 to 10) of the rehabilitative stay was 9.2 ±2.1, median and mode were 10. Rating correlated with: relative functional gain (r = 0.23, p < .000), absolute Barthel Index total score at discharge (r = 0.18, p < .000), net gain in Barthel Index total score at discharge (r = 0.1, p = 0.021), and improvement in CIRS Severity Index (r = 0.9, p = 0.043). Relative functional gain was the only variable predictive of rating that was retained by stepwise multiple regressions (p < .000).

Keywords:

Customer satisfaction, geriatric rehabilitation, functional gain.