A Survey of Satisfaction with Treatment among Brain Tumor Patients.

Dr Vijay M. Patil

Satisfaction among the patients is an important parameter to assess the quality of health care services. 1 Satisfaction in health care depends on various aspects like satisfaction with clinicians, pharmacists, and nursing staffs, which includes health care staff’s communication skills, technical competence, and patient’s confidence along with trust on them. Patient’s expectations have also an important role in satisfaction. 2 Patients with brain tumors are comparatively more physically disabled and have a shorter life span. Hence, the knowledge of the satisfaction rate with regard to the quality of currently provided health care services is indispensable in this specific population.

Brain tumor patients who visited our Neuro Medical-Oncology Outpatient Department were invited and those who were willing to participate in the study were given the questionnaire to collect the satisfaction data using functional assessment of chronic illness therapy treatment satisfaction-general (FACIT-TS-G) and FACIT-TS-patient satisfaction (PS) scale (version 4). 3 Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors affecting patient satisfaction. There were a total of 40 patients and the median age was 36.5 (13–64) years. In FACIT-TS-G scoring, 23/40 (57.5%) patients rated the overall treatment as excellent (score: 4/4), while 10/40 (25%) and 7/40 (17.5%) rated it as very good (score: 3/4) and good (score: 2/4), respectively. While the FACIT TS-PS survey showed the care was excellent (score: 4/4) according to 26/40 (65%) patients, it was very good, good, and fair according to 8/40 (20%), 3/40 (7.5%), and 3/40 (7.5%), respectively. There was no association between satisfaction and factors such as age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG PS), category, and monthly income.

The patients in our study were satisfied with the care and treatment they received. Also, the satisfaction score was not influenced by any of the factors.