Patient Satisfaction as Part of Quality Assurance in E-Health

Health care is characterized by complex and interrelated processes. E-health promises to provide efficient national medical markets, service at all hours and the consistent integration of products and services. It can also be used to better patient physician relationships as web sites can be used to deliver information directly to consumers. Systematic measurement of patient satisfaction is seldom included in routine quality assurance (QA) programs. Practical reasons have been given to explain this omission: the mental and physical state of patients, their lack of the necessary scientific and technical knowledge, the rapid pace of events of care, and methodological problems related to measuring patient satisfaction. Quality medical information should be provided, which should not be marred by provider self interest. Quality assurance is of prime importance and it is necessary to make sure that, sites providing medical advice, drug manufacturers, and health insurers all associated with medicine deliver high quality services so that the consumers are satisfied. Measuring quality can also help organizations monitor their progress toward public health goals and become more accountable to both the populations they serve and policy makers.