Quality in health care : QHC
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To describe the relationship between patient satisfaction with out of hours care provided by deputising and practice doctors in four urban areas in England and characteristics of the service provided and patients, the care given, and health outcomes. ⋯ Patient satisfaction is dependent on many factors. Mismatch between patient expectation and the service received is related to decreased satisfaction. This may increase as general practitioners delegate more out of hours care to cooperatives and deputising services.
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In order that patient satisfaction may be assessed in a meaningful way, measures that are valid and reliable are required. This study was undertaken to assess the construct validity and internal reliability of the previously developed Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ). ⋯ The results suggest that the PSQ is a valid and internally reliable tool for assessing patient satisfaction with general practitioner services.
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Reporting systems in anaesthesia have generally focused on critical events (including death) to trigger investigations of latent and active errors. The decrease in the rate of these critical events calls for a broader definition of significant anaesthetic events, such as hypotension and bradycardia, to monitor anaesthetic care. The association between merely undesirable events and critical events has not been established and needs to be investigated by voluntary reporting systems. ⋯ Undesirable events are associated with more severe events and with pre-anaesthetic risk factors. The way in which information on significant events can be used is discussed, including better use of preoperative information, reduction in the collection of redundant information, and more structured reporting.