[Internal quality management: use of a patient questionnaire in a urological university clinic. Results of a pilot project].

Introduction and Objective: In order to support the introduction of quality management, a systematic patient questionnaire was used in the Urology Clinic of the University Hospital of Münster and in another comparable clinic. The aim was to distinguish between well established areas and areas needing improvement.
Methods: A multidimensional questionnaire with emphasis on items involving patient satisfaction was developed and handed out to the patients before they left the clinic. The questionnaire could be sent back with an enclosed envelop free of charge.
Results: Hospital hygiene was rated as most important factor by the patients, followed by professionalism of the physicians and nurses. Patients were dissatisfied with hospital hygiene, making this an issue for improvement. Physicians and nurses were rated positively in both clinics. Furthermore, a high proportion of patients (82%) said that they had no pain after surgery. Overall, patients were very satisfied with their hospital stay in both clinics.
Conclusions: After analyzing the questionnaires, we could identify areas in need of improvement and areas of high performance. In particular, hospital hygiene needs to be improved. In order to reach more patients, the inquiries need to be performed in all departments of the University Hospital of Münster.