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Patients’ and professionals’ evaluations of quality of care in oncology outpatient clinics

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare patients' and professionals' evaluations of the quality of care in oncology outpatient clinics.

Methods

The data were drawn from a 2011 survey of 1,379 patients and 155 professionals conducted in 15 % of oncology outpatient clinics in Quebec, Canada. Respondents completed self-administered questionnaires that addressed the aspects of timeliness (TIM), patient-centred care (PCC), communication (COM), quality of the physical environment (QPE), and continuity (CONT). Patients’ and professionals’ mean scores (maximum = 4) for each aspect were compared using mixed model analysis.

Results

Patients’ and professionals’ perceptions of quality of care were largely positive, with mean scores for all items of 3.66 and 3.37, respectively. However, for the majority of aspects of quality, the professionals' scores were lower than those of patients. The aspects rated most positively by both groups were PCC, COM and CONT. Timeliness was the least positively evaluated, with mean scores of 3.34 for patients and 3.16 for professionals.

Conclusions

In many respects, cancer patients and professionals share relatively common views about the most and least positive aspects of the quality of care, although professionals tend to be more critical. Aspects evaluated less favourably by both groups and those on which opinions differ are good candidates for improvements. Some ideas for solutions are proposed. Positive patient feedback is especially important in cancer care, where attraction and retention of professionals is a key concern.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (Grant # 020072) and the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec.

Ethical standards

Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Charles-LeMoyne Hospital.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no relationship with the organization that sponsored the research. The authors have full control of all primary data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Community Health Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Longueuil, QC, Canada

    Danièle Roberge

  2. Charles-LeMoyne Hospital Research Centre, Greenfield Park, QC, Canada

    Danièle Roberge, Dominique Tremblay, Marie-Ève Turgeon & Djamal Berbiche

  3. Nursing School, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Longueuil, QC, Canada

    Dominique Tremblay

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  1. Danièle Roberge
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Correspondence to Danièle Roberge.

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Roberge, D., Tremblay, D., Turgeon, MÈ. et al. Patients’ and professionals’ evaluations of quality of care in oncology outpatient clinics. Support Care Cancer 21, 2983–2990 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1872-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1872-x

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