Patient Satisfaction Is Different

The Health Ministry of Singapore commissions a survey of hospital patients every year. During the months of September through December, 2008 9,300 patients were surveyed. This was the first time the survey results showed a decline since the survey became an annual affair in 2005. The average satisfaction level was 69 percent in 2005, the first year of the survey. The average has been increasing every year until last year. The average satisfaction dropped from 76 percent to 74 percent in 2008. The 74 percent represents the percent of patients who scored the hospitals as either excellent or good.

The drop in satisfaction was attributed to the public mood at a time of economic recession according to the ministry. There were six hospitals in the survey and four of them showed a decline while two increased their score from last year.

The reason I have included this very short note is that Alexandra Hospital scored 83 percent and has been ranked first since 2004 when the survey was done with a different method. The key to the success of Alexandra Hospital is the hospital makes a point to hire people who care about patents as human beings and then constantly reminds them to treat patients like family - according to CEO Liak Teng Lit.

The bottom line is that patient satisfaction is very different than customer satisfaction. Remember patients are either in pain, in grief, emotionally distraught. The normal satisfiers are VERY different in a hospital environment. This is an example that supports this notion very clearly.