Older patients' expectations on hospital stays

Expectations are one of the primary determinants of patient satisfaction. Prior research suggests that the patients' level of satisfaction is associated with better compliance and with the profitability of health care organizations since satisfied patients are more likely to return to providers for additional care and to recommend the hospital to others. This study examined the expectations on forthcoming hospital stays of 7835 patients being 60 years and older from 30 hospitals that serve a large metropolitan region in Germany. Expectations are of particular interest in such groups of patients since older patients are the fastest-growing customer group for health care organizations. Study data was collected using a validated questionnaire. Patients were asked to rate their expectations from ‘1' (completely unnecessary) to ‘5' (absolutely necessary). Patients rated the most important expectations to be high quality care (mean: 5.75), clear information about treatment (5.59), and interpersonal aspects of care such as kindness of hospital staff (5.47). Patients gave the lowest priority to clinic size (3.50), location (4.81), and accommodation (4.90). Patients aged 80 and older rated aspects measuring accessibility higher than patients aged 60-79 (Mann-Whitney U-test, p<0.01). Gender was not related to patient expectations. Recommendations by GPs and specialist were more important to patients in comparison to recommendations by relatives or friends (chi-squared-test, p<0.01). Study results suggest that older patients attach importance to providing clear information regarding treatment and interpersonal aspects of care. Health care organizations should focus on fulfilling those expectations in order to increase patient satisfaction.