AB1241 High levels of patient satisfaction in a public hospital streamed rheumatoid arthritis clinic cohort
Authors: D. Wang, T. Kovitwanichkanont, N. Walpola, S. Raghunath, L. Kyi, S. Pignataro, S. Morton, M. Leech
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2018)

<h3>Background</h3> Many Australian public rheumatology services have now adopted streamed clinics for RA and specific rheumatic diseases to promote best practice care. Our RA clinic has been operating for a decade and serves a large population in Southeast Victoria. Patient attitudes to such streamed clinics have not been extensively examined, despite the integral role patient satisfaction plays in decisions about how health care is delivered <sup>[1,2]</sup>. <h3>Objectives</h3> To evaluate the level of patient satisfaction in an established tertiary hospital streamed RA clinic. <h3>Methods</h3> A cross-sectional study of 106 patients was undertaken at a public RA outpatient's clinic. Eight domains included questions which evaluated clinic administration, the consultation itself, and overall experience using a Likert scale ranging from 1–5 (1=very poor, 5=very good). Qualitative comments were also recorded. <h3>Results</h3> Patient attitudes toward the clinic were predominately positive. 90.5% of patients scored their overall experience as good<sup>4</sup> or very good<sup>5</sup> (mean=4.46), with 69.8% of these patients scoring 5. Questions regarding the consultation itself received the highest satisfaction scores. Patients were highly satisfied with the explanations given about their condition or treatment (mean=4.59), addressing of patient concerns (mean=4.56) and length of consultation (mean=4.52). Waiting time received the lowest satisfaction score (mean=3.25), and a further 36.4% of qualitative comments expressed dissatisfaction with the long wait times. 15.2% of qualitative comments regarded limited parking at the hospital, and 9.1% to difficulty locating the clinic within the hospital. 6.1% of patients wanted more information regarding complementary medications or lifestyle modifications. Despite this, 94.7% of all patients surveyed would recommend the clinic to friends or family. <h3>Conclusions</h3> High levels of patient satisfaction with the streamed RA clinic consultation outweighed frustrations with wait times and parking. This is demonstrated by the high overall rating and most patients being likely to recommend the clinic, and highlights the priority and importance of good communication for patient satisfaction. These findings can guide areas of future improvement to the quality of patient experience. From the perspective of patients, streamed disease clinics like this RA clinic appear to be highly acceptable in the provision of specialised care, and have garnered extremely positive patient satisfaction and feedback. <h3>References</h3> [1] Hill, J., et al. "Survey of satisfaction with care in a rheumatology outpatient clinic." Annals of the rheumatic diseases 51.2 (1992): 195–197. [2] Urden, Linda D. "Patient satisfaction measurement: current issues and implications." Professional case management 7.5 (2002): 194–200. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared