OBJECTIVES:

Loss of dignity is associated with bowel diseases. Customer-Care-CC and home delivery-HD services improve therapy adherence and patients’ autonomy, reducing perceived loss of dignity. This study aims at measuring quality of CC/HD services, provided by a Company assisting patients with transanal irrigation (TAI) and intermittent catheterization (IC) medical devices, with a focus on those aspects affecting patient’s satisfaction: continuity of supply, staff competence, empathy.

METHODS:

Patients giving consent were emailed to a online, independent survey.The questionnaire was adapted from the ServQual method, a multidimensional research instrument validated to capture customer satisfaction and quality of healthcare services [4]. The survey measured, on a 7-point Likert scale, individual perceptions and expectations from services among five dimensions: tangible aspects (equipment), reliability (provided service), responsiveness (prompt service), assurance (ability to convey trust), empathy (customer attention) [5]. An additional section measured the relevance for each dimension and was used to estimate the weighted difference between perceptions and expectations (gap analysis). Statistical analyses were performed using Stata 16.

RESULTS:

78 respondents (65% males, mean age 50 years, range 4-78; 47% suffering from neurogenic bladder, 26% spina bifida, 27% other neurogenic based diseases). CC service (59%) overcomes patients’ expectations (positive gap scores) in TAI and IC samples. Most patients considered the service very satisfying, as confirmed by the customer satisfaction index (86.95). The same for patients from the HD (41%) whose customer satisfaction index was higher (89.58). The main aspects affecting patients’ autonomy and therapy adherence (i.e., continuity of supply, competence, prompt service, accountability) were rated as satisfying by more than 80% of patients.

CONCLUSIONS:

The study adapts a validated international instrument of service quality assessment to CC/HD services accompanying the TAI and IC medical devices procedure delivery. The quality of provided service is high along all the scoring dimensions and contributes to improving therapy adherence and patients’ autonomy.