Title: Patient Experience of Hospital Care in South Korea During 1st-3rd Survey: An Analysis of a National Patient Survey (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Patients’ experience with healthcare is becoming increasingly important in the quality of care. The Korean government introduced the Korean National Patient Experience Survey (KNPES) to improve patient-centeredness in 2017. OBJECTIVE This study assessed the quality of hospital care from patients’ perspectives and investigated factors associated with better patient experiences. METHODS This is a retrospective analysis of a national cross-sectional survey completed by questionnaire in 2017, 2019, and 2021. Patient experiences were assessed with the KNPES Questionnaire, a 24-item survey of 5 domains (doctors, nurses, treatment process, hospital environment, and patient rights), as well as basic patient information. The subjects were patients aged ≥20 years, and discharged after hospitalization at 601 hospitals. The outcome measures were the overall scores of 6 domains in the KHPEQ. Multiple regression analysis was performed using factors including patient characteristics and hospital variables. RESULTS In total, 14,970 patients in 2017, 23,924 patients in 2019, and 58,258 patients in 2021 responded to the survey (mean age 56.26±15.32 years, 50.2% men). The overall composite score for patient experience was 83.94±15.98 points. The patient experience score was highest in the domain of communication with nurses and the lowest in the domain of patient rights. In the adjusted regression analysis, a younger age, higher education level, use of Medical Aid, and the field of internal medicine, as patients’ characteristics, and secondary hospital status and more nurses, as hospital factors, were found to be associated with better patient experiences. CONCLUSIONS Only the number of nurses was found to be an influencing factor after adjusting for confounding factors. Thus, this study has identified the domain of care that needs to be addressed to improve the patient experience. CLINICALTRIAL None