Association of Shared Decision Making with Inpatient Satisfaction: A Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract Background: We assess inpatient perceived shared decision making (SDM) and test the association of SDM with inpatient satisfaction in public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, China.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 2585 inpatients in 47 public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai in July and August 2018. We assessed SDM overall and 4 aspects of SDM and tested the factors that influenced SDM and the association of SDM with patient satisfaction (patient satisfaction with physician services, medical expenses, outcomes and inpatient care overall), adopting multilevel mixed linear regression models.Results: The positive response rate (PRR) for SDM overall among the inpatients of public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai was high (95.30%), while the PRR for “My physician informed me of different treatment alternatives” was relatively low (88.63%). In addition, inpatients who underwent surgery during admission had higher PRRs and adjusted PRRs for SDM overall than those who did not undergo surgery (96.01% vs. 95.00% and 94.15% vs. 92.99%, respectively). Based on three-level mixed regression models, the study showed that inpatients with positive responses for SDM overall had higher adjusted satisfaction rates (SRs) for physician services, medical expenses, outcomes and inpatient care overall (98.89%, 91.73%, 98.44% and 97.34%, respectively) than those without positive responses (88.91%, 72.44%, 88.66% and 87.86%, respectively). The greatest differences in adjusted SRs between inpatients with or without positive responses for SDM were found for inpatient satisfaction with medical expenses and informed consent in SDM.Conclusions: Inpatient PRRs for SDM in public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai are high overall but are lower for information about alternatives. SDM can be affected by the SDM preference of both patients and physicians, medical condition, physician workload and professional requirements. Patient satisfaction with physician services, medical expenses, treatment outcomes and inpatient care overall can be improved through good SDM.