Determinants of inpatient satisfaction and hospital recommendation: experiences from a cross-sectional study of a tertiary general hospital in China.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the satisfaction levels of inpatients and identify the determinants of inpatient satisfaction and hospital recommendations.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022.

Setting: A tertiary general hospital in Sichuan Province, China.

Participants: 271 inpatients were randomly selected and studied.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: A tailored questionnaire was developed to measure inpatient satisfaction and hospital recommendation. T-test and analysis of variance were employed to compare the differences in inpatients' demographic characteristics across five satisfaction domains. Multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to identify determinants associated with inpatient satisfaction and hospital recommendation.

Results: The mean inpatient satisfaction score was 4.27 and the mean hospital recommendation score was 3.96. Inpatients showed the highest satisfaction with the physician care domain and the lowest satisfaction with the hospital environment domain. Statistically significant differences were observed in inpatient demographic characteristics among specific satisfaction domains. Older inpatients, those with Urban Employees and Residents Medical Insurance, from the internal medicine department, and inpatients from the hospital's older region reported the highest levels of satisfaction. Multivariate binary logistic regression revealed that the nursing care domain was the strongest positive predictor of both inpatient overall satisfaction and hospital recommendation. Additionally, the medical procedure and hospital environment domains were strong positive predictors for hospital recommendation and inpatient overall satisfaction respectively. The hospital region domain was a strong negative predictor for inpatient overall satisfaction.

Conclusions: Higher satisfaction levels do not necessarily correlate with an increased likelihood of hospital recommendation. Inpatient satisfaction levels vary significantly based on factors such as age, gender, insurance type, hospital clinical department and region. The domains of nursing care and medical procedure are the influencing factors associated with inpatient overall satisfaction. The domains of nursing care, hospital environment and hospital region are the influencing factors of inpatient hospital recommendation.