Patient satisfaction is a variable of increasing interest to researchers, clinicians, and medical educators. Of several studies reviewed, only a few have shown evidence of careful methodology. Most surveys have focused on general evaluations of doctors and/or health care services or of a particular facility. The present article reports the development of a scale to measure patient satisfaction with an encounter with a physician or other primary care provider. Methods of item generation and pretesting are detailed. The overall reliability of the scale (Cronbach''s coefficient
) is 0.93. The distribution of satisfaction scores is broader than that reported for other scales and approaches the normal in shape. Clinical and research applications of the scale are suggested.
Key words patient satisfaction with physician - Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale - physician-patient relationships
This project was supported by Grant No. HS 01971 to the Health Services Research Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from the National Center for Health Services Research, Health Resources Administration, DHEW.