Last update:
23-Jul-2008

OBJECTIVE Due to the chronic and recurrent nature of their disease and their normal life expectancy, patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may need considerable health care. Health care systems should therefore aim that the provided care to these patients remains of a high quality standard at all times. Most of the existing approaches in evaluating quality of health care are still based on the perception of the health care provider, which may be different from that of the health care user. The purpose of this study was to assess IBD patients' satisfaction, as an indicator of health care quality, with the use of a validated instrument (QUOTE-IBD).

METHOD Eighty-eight patients [58 ulcerative colitis, UC (66%), 30 Crohn's disease, CD (34%)] with IBD completed a disease-specific questionnaire for the assessment of patient's perception, regarding the quality of the perceived care. It consisted of 23 questions, assigned to eight dimensions: accessibility, costs, accommodation, continuity of care, courtesy, information, competence, autonomy. According to this evaluation suboptimal care was observed in the dimensions of autonomy, accessibility and information (mean values: 8.85, 8.82, 8.91, respectively).

RESULTS In the subgroup analysis significant differences were observed between UC and CD patients, between patients of higher and lower education, patients older and younger than 50 years and patients with disease duration longer and shorter than 5 years.

CONCLUSIONS The assessment of the quality of health care, based on patients' perception, revealed quality problems in the dimensions of accommodation, accessibility and information. According to subgroup analysis, disease type, educational status, age, and disease duration play an important role in the formation of patients' expectations from healthcare system.

Key words: Health care, Inflammatory bowel disease, Patient perceptions, Quality of care, Satisfaction.