Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medical Students’ Performance in a Hospital Outpatient Clinic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medical Students' Performance in a Hospital Outpatient Clinic: A Cross-Sectional Study

MARITA FADHILAH,^1,5 YASUTOMO ODA,² SEI EMURA,³ TSUNEAKI YOSHIOKA,¹ SHUNZO KOIZUMI,¹ HIROTAKA ONISHI⁴ and TAKANOBU SAKEMI²

¹Department of General Medicine, Saga University Hospital, Saga, Japan
²Education and Research Center for Comprehensive Community Medicine, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan
³Center for Graduate Medical Education Development and Research, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan
⁴International Research Center of Medical Education, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
⁵Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Medical education in Japan has undergone significant reforms. Patient perspective and outcome have been highly valued in curricular reforms. Therefore, we evaluated an undergraduate curriculum particularly on communication skills by comparing outpatient satisfaction before and after the reforms implemented at Saga Medical School. Cross-sectional study was conducted at the General Medicine Clinic of Saga University Hospital in 1999 and 2009. A total of 729 newcomer patients evaluated 159 students; namely, 287 patients evaluated sixth-year medical students (n = 82) in 1999, and in 2009, 442 patients evaluated fifth-year medical students (n = 77). Students interviewed newcomer patients prior to a faculty's clinical examination. After a student-patient encounter, the patient was asked to fill in six-item Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) developed by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Mixed model two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with covariant of students' gender was conducted. Effect sizes were calculated to evaluate the amplitude of influence. The average score in 2009 was significantly higher than that in 1999 (3.63 ± 0.62 versus 3.36 ± 0.66; p < 0.001). Since the “encouraging and answering questions” and “clear explanations” were lower than those of the other items (3.24 ± 0.98 and 3.46 ± 0.85), these two items showed the most significant improvements (Phi coefficient = 0.31 and 0.24, p < 0.001). Thus, students' performance has improved since 1999, which may represent the success of curricular reforms at Saga Medical School. We propose that “encouraging and answering questions” and “clear explanations” should be emphasized in interview training.

keywords —— communication skills; curricular reforms; educational outcomes; patient satisfaction; students' evaluation

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2011, 225, 249-254

Correspondence: Marita Fadhilah, M.D., Department of General Medicine, Saga University Hospital, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga Shi, Saga 849-8501, Japan. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda no. 95, Ciputat 15419, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda no. 95, Ciputat 15419, Jakarta, Indonesia.

e-mail: maritafadhilah@uinjkt.ac.id