The study of patients’ and caregivers’ satisfaction with care in palliative medicine unit as an indicator of the quality of palliative care

The main goal of palliative care units is to provide a proper quality of care to the patients and their caregivers. One of the methods of managing through quality in palliative care may be the study of satisfaction. In Sue Ryder Home in Bydgoszcz it has been systematically carried out since the implementation of certified system of quality management PN ISO 9001:2008 in 2005. The aim of the work is to evaluate the quality of palliative care in Sue Ryder Home in 2009 and 2010. The results of the satisfaction study, conducted with the assistance of a pollster among the patients and their caregivers with the use of a questionnaire created for the center’s needs, were analysed. In the study there were 70 patients and their caregivers in total, above the age of 18, who have been receiving care for at least 5 days. The study comprised of 4 areas: respecting patients’ rights, symptom management, organization of care, living conditions. The levels of the respondents’ satisfaction were determined with indicators: patients’ satisfaction indicator, and caregivers’ satisfaction indicator, from ‘0’ to ‘10’; where ‘0’ means total dissatisfaction and ‘10’ total satisfaction. The levels of the patients’ and the caregivers’ satisfaction were graded ‘good’ in all areas.