Effects of Writing Down the Request for Help on Patient Satisfaction in General Practices

Nanne Kleefstra

Status: Completed

Conditions: Patient Satisfaction; Doctor Satisfaction; Duration of Consultation

Treatments: Other: Writing down request for help

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01466140

EffectsPS1

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether exploring the request for help more thoroughly improves patient satisfaction in general practice (primary care).

Full description

Patient satisfaction has been an important topic of interest in primary health care during the last decade(s). Many factors during the consultation influence patient satisfaction. One of the aspects in a consultation is the request for help; especially in primary care the request for help has been recognised as an important aspect influencing patient satisfaction. The investigators hypothesized that exploring the request for help more thoroughly would improve patient satisfaction in general practice.

Enrollment: 209 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All patients with a new request for help.

Exclusion criteria

• Dementia
• Mental disability
• No or little knowledge of the Dutch language
• Illiteracy
• Limited vision

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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209 participants in 2 patient groups

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients in the control group were asked to participate in a patient satisfaction study. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire with respect to patient satisfaction.

Use of request card

Experimental group

Description:

Patients in the intervention group were told that the practice was participating in a patient satisfaction study, and they were given an envelope with information about the 'doorknob phenomenon' and a request card. The envelope for the control group only consisted of information about a patient satisfaction study, without any information on the 'doorknob phenomenon', and without a request card. Both groups received the same letter with patient information about the study.

Treatment:

Other: Writing down request for help