Patient Satisfaction Monitoring within a Comprehensive Quality Management System

The areas of patient care and satisfaction are focused on. A patient satisfaction monitoring and management programme is described within a multi‐hospital system in North Central United States. The programme was set up as the core of a comprehensive system for continuous quality improvement at all levels in the organisation. The concept of patient satisfaction management is defined; the dimensions of clinical and patient satisfaction are balanced; the critical success factors are assessed, and the future challenges of broadening the programme into a system of continuous quality improvement are summarised.