Satisfaction with the care of institutionalized psychogeriatric patients, as reflected by a survey of their relatives

The patients' satisfaction is an important aspect of quality of care assessment in long-term care institutions. However, many psychogeriatric patients are institutionalized at an advanced stage of their disease, when they are unable to communicate properly and cannot be questioned about their satisfaction with the care received in these psychogeriatric settings. Therefore we initiated a survey of patients' relatives based on a questionnaire purposely designed, to evaluate their satisfaction with the medical, nursing and structural components of the institutional care. The relatives of 101 patients, representing 79% of the patients in four psychogeriatric wards, responded to the questionnaire. The level of satisfaction with the care was high, as reflected by the fact that over 75% of the respondents rated the overall question about satisfaction with the medical, nursing, and structural components with the maximum of five points. The high correlation between the summative and the overall satisfaction supports and even strengthens this view. Another finding was the reluctance of most relatives to be involved in the personal care of the patients. Our study concluded that the relatives do appreciate the efforts of the staff and understand the constraints imposed by the nature of the patients' condition. Moreover, both families and staff welcomed this study and mentioned its contribution in improving communication.