Obstetric patient satisfaction: asking patients what they like.
OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to determine pertinent attributes of women's hospital experience related to the delivery of their children and to use open-ended responses from women to develop a taxonomy for classifying patient satisfaction in obstetrics.


STUDY DESIGN
By using clinimetric methods, we interviewed 67 obstetric patients during their postpartum hospital stays, asking open-ended questions about their satisfaction with care. Responses were transcribed, arranged into distinct groups, and organized as a taxonomy of patient satisfaction.


RESULTS
The final taxonomy derived from patient responses was divided into six main axes related to physicians, nurses, other staff, special services, hospital attributes, and personal focus; a total of 51 individual items were identified related to patient satisfaction. These items have face validity, and many are not routinely included in assessments of patient satisfaction.


CONCLUSION
A simple strategy of using open-ended questions leads to a clinically relevant and easily understood classification scheme for patient satisfaction with in-hospital obstetric services.