Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T03:20:48.984Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction: Radiation Therapy Services for Chinese Patients at the British Columbia Cancer Agency – Vancouver Centre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

J. Soo ,
C. Chu  and
J. French
J. Soo*
Affiliation:
Radiation Therapy, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Centre, British Columbia, Canada
C. Chu
Affiliation:
Population and Preventive Oncology, Vancouver Centre, British Columbia, Canada
J. French
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Oncology, Vancouver Centre, British Columbia, Canada
*
Correspondence to: Jenny Soo, MEd, AC(T), Radiation Therapy Clinical Educator, British Columbia Cancer Agency, 600 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Phone: 604 877 6000 Fax: 604 877-6109. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction surveys conducted in English exclude respondents who are not proficient in the English language. This makes it difficult to assess whether health care services provided are culturally appropriate. This study aims to evaluate the level of satisfaction for Chinese speaking patients who received radiation treatments at the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Centre in Canada.

Patients and Methods: Chinese patients were given a translated patient satisfaction survey on a voluntary basis to complete at the end of treatment. Contingency table analysis using the Pearson chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was performed at 5% significance level for all analyses. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate whether complete satisfaction with an aspect of care influenced overall satisfaction with services provided by the RT team.

Results: The level of satisfaction in Chinese speaking patients was lower compared to English speaking patients. The results from the Chinese survey also identified the importance of treatment patients with courtesy and providing them with a pleasant wait area.

Conclusions: Despite a language barrier, Chinese speaking patients still contributed to improvement initiatives at the Vancouver Centre. Efforts to ensure a culturally appropriate environment and provision of services include recruitment of staff members who reflect the cultural diversity of the community serviced, use of interpreter services or bilingual health providers for clients, use of linguistically appropriately education materials, and health care settings that is pleasant and respects the cultural diversity of the population serviced. This assessment provided a better understanding of whether services at the Vancouver Centre were culture appropriate.

Keywords

Chinesepatient satisfactionradiation therapysurvey
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 124 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Guzman, PM, Sliepcevich, EM, Lacey, EP, Vitello, EM, Matten, MR, Woehlke, PL, Wright, WR. Tapping patient satisfaction: a strategy for quality assessment. Patient Educ Couns 1988; 12:225–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomlinson, JS, Ko, CY. Patient satisfaction: an increasingly important measure of quality. Ann Surg Oncol 2006; 13:764–765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiggers, JH, Donovan, KO, Redman, S, Sanson-Fisher, RW. Cancer patient satisfaction with care. Cancer 1990; 66:610–616.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yip, MP, Mackenzie, A, Chan, J. Patient satisfaction with telediabetes education in Hong Kong. J Telemed Telecare 2002; 8:48–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turhal, NS, Efe, B, Gumus, M, Aliustaoglu, M, Karamanoglu, A, Sengoz, M. Patient satisfaction in the outpatients’ chemotherapy unit of Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey: a staff survey. BMC Cancer 2002; 2:30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, DA. Race/ethnicity and patient satisfaction. Using the appropriate method to test for perceived differences in care. J Gen Intern Med 2004; 19:937–943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schutt, RK, Cruz, ER, Woodford, ML. Client satisfaction in a breast and cervical cancer early detection program: the influence of ethnicity and language, health, resources, and barriers. Women Health 2008; 48:283–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrulis, D. Reducing racial and ethnic disparites in disease management to improve health outcomes. Disease Management and Health Outcomes 2003; 11:789–8000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gadon, M, Balch, GI, Jacobs, EA. Caring for patients with limited English proficiency: the perspectives of small group practitioners. J Gen Intern Med 2007; 22 Suppl 2:341–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, LM, Scrimshaw, SC, Fullilove, MT, Fielding, JE, Normand, J; Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Culturally competent healthcare systems. A systematic review. Am J Prev Med 2003; 24:68–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poinsot, R, Altmeyer, A, Conroy, T, Savignoni, A, Asselain, B, Léonard, I, Marx, E, Cosquer, M, Sévellec, M, Gledhill, J, Rodary, C, Mercier, M, Dickès, P, Fabbro, M, Antoine, P, Guerif, S, Schraub, S, Dolbeault, S, Brédart, A. [Multisite validation study of questionnaire assessing out-patient satisfaction with care questionnaire in ambulatory chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment]. Bull Cancer 2006; 93:315–327.Google ScholarPubMed
Brédart, A, Mignot, V, Rousseau, A, Dolbeault, S, Beauloye, N, Adam, V, Elie, C, Léonard, I, Asselain, B, Conroy, T. Validation of the EORTC QLQ-SAT32 cancer inpatient satisfaction questionnaire by self- versus interview-assessment comparison. Patient Educ Couns 2004; 54:207–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lubeck, DP, Litwin, MS, Henning, JM, Mathias, SD, Bloor, L, Carroll, PR. An instrument to measure patient satisfaction with healthcare in an observational database: results of a validation study using data from CaPSURE. Am J Manag Care 2000; 6:70–76.Google Scholar
Ware JE, Jr, Snyder, MK, Wright, WR, Davies, AR. Defining and measuring patient satisfaction with medical care. Eval Program Plann 1983; 6:247–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong, WS, Fielding, R, Wong, CM, Hedley, AJ. Psychometric properties of the Nine-Item Chinese Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (ChPSQ-9) in Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Psychooncology 2008; 17:292–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleeberg, UR, Feyer, P, Günther, W, Behrens, M. Patient satisfaction in outpatient cancer care: a prospective survey using The PASQOC questionnaire. Support Care Cancer 2008; 16:947–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashbury, FD, Findlay, H, Reynolds, B, McKerracher, K. A Canadian survey of cancer patients’ experiences: are their needs being met? J Pain Symptom Manage 1998; 16:298–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Groff, SL, Carlson, LE, Tsang, K, Potter, BJ. Cancer patients’ satisfaction with care in traditional and innovative ambulatory oncology clinics. J Nurs Care Qual 2008; 23:251–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gesell, SB, Gregory, N. Identifying priority actions for improving patient satisfaction with outpatient cancer care. J Nurs Care Qual 2004; 19:226–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, S, Glynne-Jones, R, Chait, I. Is it worth the wait? A survey of patients’ satisfaction with an oncology outpatient clinic. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) 1997; 6:50–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gourdji, I, McVey, L, Loiselle, C. Patients’ satisfaction and importance ratings of quality in an outpatient oncology center. J Nurs Care Qual 2003; 18:43–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, V, Fallowfield, L, Saul, J. Information needs of patients with cancer: results from a large study in UK cancer centres. Br J Cancer 2001; 84:48–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewin, TB. The cancer patient: communication and morale. Br Med J 1977; 2:1623–1627.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cassileth, BR, Volckmar, D, Goodman, RL. The effect of experience on radiation therapy patients’ desire for information. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1980; 6:493–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, JL, Ramsay, J, Green, J. Age, gender, socioeconomic, and ethnic differences in patients’ assessments of primary health care. Qual Health Care 2001; 10:90–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haviland, MG, Morales, LS, Dial, TH, Pincus, HA. Race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and satisfaction with health care. Am J Med Qual 2005; 20:195–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, MG, Morales, LS, Reise, SP, Hays, RD. Do health care ratings differ by race or ethnicity? Jt Comm J Qual Saf 2003; 29:134–145.Google ScholarPubMed
Saha, S, Arbelaez, JJ, Cooper, LA. Patient-physician relationships and racial disparities in the quality of health care. Am J Public Health 2003; 93:1713–1719.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taira, DA, Safran, DG, Seto, TB, Rogers, WH, Kosinski, M, Ware, JE, Lieberman, N, Tarlov, AR. Asian-American patient ratings of physician primary care performance. J Gen Intern Med 1997; 12:237–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray-García, JL, Selby, JV, Schmittdiel, J, Grumbach, K, Quesenberry, CP Jr. Racial and ethnic differences in a patient survey: patients’ values, ratings, and reports regarding physician primary care performance in a large health maintenance organization. Med Care 2000; 38:300–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, MD, Asch, SM, Andersen, RM, Hays, RD, Shapiro, MF. Racial and ethnic differences in patients’ preferences for initial care by specialists. Am J Med 2004; 116:613–620.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ngo-Metzger, Q, Legedza, AT, Phillips, RS. Asian Americans’ reports of their health care experiences. Results of a national survey. J Gen Intern Med 2004; 19:111–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hargraves, JL, Cunningham, PJ, Hughes, RG. Racial and ethnic differences in access to medical care in managed care plans. Health Serv Res 2001; 36:853–868.Google ScholarPubMed
Lasser, KE, Himmelstein, DU, Woolhandler, S. Access to care, health status, and health disparities in the United States and Canada: results of a cross-national population-based survey. Am J Public Health 2006; 96:1300–1307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shi, L, Stevens, GD. Disparities in access to care and satisfaction among U.S. children: the roles of race/ethnicity and poverty status. Public Health Rep 2005; 120:431–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, J. The use of patient satisfaction data to drive quality improvement. Canadian Journal of Medical Radiation Technology 2004; 35:14–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westbrook, JI. Patient satisfaction: methodological issues and research findings. Aust Health Rev 1993; 16:75–88.Google ScholarPubMed
French, J, McGahan, C. Measuring patient satisfaction with radiation therapy service delivery. Healthc Manage Forum 2009; 22:40–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, JW, Jones, PS, Mineyama, Y, Zhang, XE. Cultural differences in responses to a Likert scale. Res Nurs Health 2002; 25:295–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saha, S, Komaromy, M, Koepsell, TD, Bindman, AB. Patient-physician racial concordance and the perceived quality and use of health care. Arch Intern Med 1999; 159:997–1004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woloshin, S, Schwartz, LM, Katz, SJ, Welch, HG. Is language a barrier to the use of preventive services? J Gen Intern Med 1997; 12:472–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, BS-C, Furrer, O, Sudharshan, D. The relationship between culture and behavioral intentions toward services. Journal of Service Research 2001; 4:118–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saha, S, Hickam, DH. Explaining low ratings of patient satisfaction among Asian-Americans. Am J Med Qual 2003; 18:256–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flaskerud, JH. Is the Likert scale format culturally biased? Nurs Res 1988; 37:185–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hilton, A, Skrutkowski, M. Translating instruments into other languages: development and testing processes. Cancer Nurs 2002; 25:1–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed