Satisfaction scores can be used to assess the quality of care and service in spinal rehabilitation

Study design: Cohort comparative study. Objective: Evaluate the suitability of satisfaction scores for the assessment of quality of care and service in spinal rehabilitation. Setting: Spinal rehabilitation department. Methods: Fifty-two inpatients participated anonymously in a large satisfaction survey, in 2017. A questionnaire containing the same questions was completed by 96 other inpatients, whose personal details were known, admitted to the same department between 2017 and 2019. Differences in satisfaction scores were compared between the two groups, between years, and between identified patients with differences in perceived progress and satisfaction with progress, using Mann–Whitney tests. In the identified patients, the association between satisfaction and patient demographic, neurological, and functional characteristics was evaluated using Pearson correlations. Analysis of variance and t test assessed the effect of comorbidities on satisfaction. T test assessed gender differences between groups. The effect of associated factors on satisfaction was examined using a stepwise linear regression. Results: The total satisfaction score was 86.05 ± 16.99 for the anonymous group and 88.75 ± 12.45 for the identified patients (p > 0.05). The only patient characteristics that were associated with satisfaction were years of education, the perception of progress during rehabilitation, and the satisfaction with progress (p < 0.02). Their contribution to the total satisfaction variance, however, was relatively small (R² = 0.211). Conclusions: The small effect of patient characteristics on total satisfaction indicates that satisfaction scores can be used to assess the quality of care and service in spinal rehabilitation. This and the similarity in findings between the groups supports the validity of the questionnaires.