Abstract

Background The quality of healthcare services has garnered significant attention within the medical field, with patient-perceived satisfaction emerging as a crucial indicator. Analyzing patient satisfaction could uncover areas of weakness, suggesting the need for improvements in care. However, in the specialized field of Fetal Medicine and Therapy, there lacks a validated tool for assessing care quality from the patient’s perspective. This study aims to design and pilot an instrument for measuring patient-perceived satisfaction as a barometer of the quality of services provided.

Methods We developed a survey instrument to assess six key areas of healthcare (Follow-up care, environment, transparency, accessibility of care, link between physician and patient, and global satisfaction), through 20 multiple-choice questions. It was initially piloted on a sample of 34 pregnant women undergoing a specific fetal therapy (Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment, EXIT) at our center between June 2007 and January 2024.

Results A total of 29 out of 34 patients agreed to participate. According to the proposed tool and the suggested scoring scale, we achieved an overall score of 4.67, indicating a very satisfactory rating. The highest mean score was for the “Global satisfaction” domain (4.76), revealing that participants where highly likely to recommend our department. It was followed by “Follow-up care” and “Environment” domains (4.69, each). Notably, “Transparency” and “Link between physician-patient” were the least rating domains (4.58 and 4.62, respectively), suggesting the timely provision of enhancement.

Conclusions We propose “FETAL Surgery Global Satisfaction Tool” as a potential valuable instrument to assess patient-perceived satisfaction. It could provide insights into the quality of services offered by Fetal Medicine and Therapy Units. By identifying key areas for improvement, this tool could support continuous quality enhancement across Fetal Therapy programs globally. Further studies are warranted to evaluate its reliability and validity.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

There have been no funding sources for the development of this study.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Prior to initiating data collection, we sought guidance from the institutional ethics committee (Andalusian Ethics Committee), which confirmed that formal authorization was unncesary. Approval was obtained from the Quality Department of our institution, along with written institutional permission.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

List of abbreviationsCREDESConducting and Reporting Delphi StudiesEXIT ExUtero Intrapartum TreatmentNHSNational Health Service