The cataract service satisfaction tool: Development and validation of a new tool to assess patient satisfaction with cataract services

Client satisfaction is an important outcome measure of healthcare services. The aims of the present work are to develop a tool to assess client satisfaction with the components of streamlined cataract services and to conduct a pilot study to evaluate its reliability and validity.

A validated patient satisfaction questionnaire was modified for use in a cataract service and validated by expert panel and patient focus group approach. Two versions were used to evaluate pre‐operative assessment clinic and day surgical unit. The questionnaires comprised items covering individual domains of client satisfaction plus one global satisfaction item. Together with a visual analogue scale (VAS) the questionnaires were administered to 200 consecutive cataract patients.

The questionnaires were returned by 165 patients (82.5 per cent). Median individual item and global scores in the pre‐operative group were 87 and 100 per cent, respectively. In the day‐of‐surgery group median scores were 91 and 100 per cent, respectively. Mean VAS scores were 95.5 per cent (SD 5.6) and 94.5 per cent (SD 6.4), respectively. Cronbach's alpha was 0.768 for the pre‐operative and 0.636 for the day‐of‐surgery questionnaire. Spearman's correlation coefficient between individual item score and the VAS score was 0.350 (p=0.005) for the pre‐operative and 0.302 (p=0.028) for the day‐of‐surgery questionnaire. Spearman's correlation coefficient between individual item score and the global satisfaction score was 0.566 (p<0.001) for the pre‐operative and 0.317 (p=0.004) for the day‐of‐surgery questionnaire.

The questionnaire appears to be a useful tool for measuring client satisfaction with a one‐stop cataract pre‐assessment service where surgery is performed at a second visit, which other cataract service providers might adapt for local use.