Patients' satisfaction: customer relationship management as a new opportunity for quality improvement in thoracic surgery.

Clinical and nonclinical indicators of performance are meant to provide the surgeon with tools to identify weaknesses to be improved. The World Health Organization's Performance Evaluation Systems represent a multidimensional approach to quality measurement based on several categories made of different indicators. Indicators for patient satisfaction may include overall perceived quality, accessibility, humanization and patient involvement, communication, and trust in health care providers. Patient satisfaction is included among nonclinical indicators of performance in thoracic surgery and is increasingly recognized as one of the outcome measures for delivered quality of care.