Dear Editor,
We would like to thank the reader for the valuable comments on article titled “Patient satisfaction with services of the outpatient department”.1
The study instrument was developed based on the guidance taken from various validated instruments available in published literature and has a high Cronbach's alpha coefficient value of 0.96, thus indicating high internal consistency of the instrument. However, Principal Component analysis with Varimax rotation would have added more validity to the instrument. The study team feels that the instrument is ready for use in the AFMS, but may be suitably modified as per the needs and situation of a particular hospital.
Case-mix adjustment is usually utilized to adjust for the variability and difference of intensity of cases being attended to in various wards or departments. Not utilizing the same for the study has been accepted as a limitation.
Exit interview as a valid consumer feedback collection method is frequently used in satisfaction surveys. Any fear or apprehensions of the respondents were taken off by commitment of the study team towards complete confidentiality and anonymity of responses. Then again, Mail or Telephonic surveys result in substantial loss of user responses, unless rigorously and continuously followed up, leading to a time consuming process. The reader will always have an option of utilizing his chosen method of data collection, but our method has led to 100% responses which is an ideal situation.
References
- 1.Mohd Athar, Chakravarty A. Patient satisfaction with services of the outpatient department. Med J Armed Forces India. 2014;70:237–242. doi: 10.1016/j.mjafi.2013.06.010. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]