Improving patient satisfaction: a control chart case study.

Health care providers both in inpatient and outpatient settings commonly use patient satisfaction surveys. However, when the surveys are administered and the results are interpreted without attention to sound scientific methodology, the findings may be useless and even misleading. As a result, money and resources are wasted. To use surveys to improve patient care, providers must first obtain high-quality data. This requires choosing an instrument that is valid and reliable, employing an appropriate and credible sampling method, and obtaining a representative response rate. Providers are then faced with the difficult challenge of interpreting and responding to the survey findings. This article addresses this latter task by presenting a case study that demonstrates how control charts can be used to interpret survey findings, develop improvement plans, and assess the effectiveness of these plans.