Development of the physician satisfaction survey instrument.

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities depend on valid and reliable instruments to generate data. An evaluation of internal and external customer satisfaction is one of the pillars of the CQI process. This article describes the development of a valid and reliable instrument for measuring physicians' satisfaction with the orthopedic nursing units at a major medical trauma center. The physician satisfaction survey instrument was found to be internally consistent (alpha = .95). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that 68% of the variance in physician satisfaction scores (eigenvalue = 8.14) was explained by using a single-factor model.