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Electronic Letters to:

Clinical Practice:
D. Saal, M. Nuebling, Y. Husemann, and T. Heidegger
Effect of timing on the response to postal questionnaires concerning satisfaction with anaesthesia care
Br. J. Anaesth. 2005; 94: 206-210 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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Electronic letters published:

[Read E-letter] Experience of surveying satisfaction at two weeks.
Alfred P J Lake   (31 January 2005)

Experience of surveying satisfaction at two weeks. 31 January 2005
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Alfred P J Lake,
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management
Glan Clwyd Hospital

Send letter to journal:
Re: Experience of surveying satisfaction at two weeks.

As part of our departmental audit programme, following an initial ward-based survey of patient satisfaction, a postal questionnaire was developed and has been used from 1990. Questions asked of the patient have been honed over the years to ensure good discriminatory value and the document has many features in common with the one described and trialled by the authors’ group.1 Following its introduction, the satisfaction survey became annual from 1995. From an agreed date patient details are abstracted sequentially from our theatre management system (ORSOS®. Per-Sé Technologies, Atlanta GA) up to the required number(s) and fed to the clinical audit office who are responsible for the despatch of the questionnaire(s) 2 weeks after surgery. Each year 100 adults following general anaesthesia are surveyed together with a smaller number in a specialty group such as regional anaesthesia, day surgery or children. No telephone follow up takes place and the clinical audit office collates the results and prepares them for presentation. The response rate of between 61 and 72% has averaged 67% over the period, within the expected range for such a survey2 and in line with the findings of Saal and colleagues.3 The results, now part of our Clinical Governance activity, serve to both inform and enlighten the anaesthetists about their practice. A satisfaction survey provides valuable benefits, provided the right questions are asked, which can be realised with little effort by sampling just 2 weeks following surgery. I would be happy to provide details of our questionnaire to interested readers.

1. Heidegger T, Husemann Y, Nuebling M, et al. Patient satisfaction with anaesthesia care: development of a psychometric questionnaire and benchmarking among six hospitals in Switzerland and Austria. Br J Anaesth 2002; 89: 863-72 2. Sitzia J, Wood N. Response rate in patient satisfaction research: an analysis of 210 published studies. Int J Qual Health Care 1998; 10: 311-17 3. Saal D, Nuebling M, Husemann Y, Heidegger T. Effect of timing on the response to postal questionnaires concerning satisfaction with anaesthesia care. Br J Anaesth 2005; 94: 206-10.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared