Patient satisfaction with service quality in an oncology setting: implications for prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between self-reported satisfaction with service quality and overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. SETTING: Cancer Treatment Centers of America(®) from July 2007 and December 2010. PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred and eighty-six returning NSCLC patients. INTERVENTION: Overall patient experience ‘considering everything, how satisfied are you with your overall experience’ was measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from ‘completely dissatisfied’ to ‘completely satisfied.’. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Patient survival was the primary end point. RESULTS: The response rate for this study was 69%. Six hundred patients were newly diagnosed, while 386 were previously treated. Four hundred sixty-nine were males, while 517 were females. 101, 59, 288 and 538 patients had stage I, II, III and IV disease, respectively. Mean age was 58.9 years. Six hundred and thirty (63.9%) patients had expired at the time of this analysis. Seven hundred and sixty-two (77.3%) patients were ‘completely satisfied’. Median overall survival was 12.1 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.9–13.2 months). On univariate analysis, ‘completely satisfied’ patients had a significantly lower risk of mortality compared with those not ‘completely satisfied’ [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.59–0.84; P < 0.001]. On multivariate analysis controlling for stage at diagnosis, prior treatment history, age and gender, ‘completely satisfied’ patients demonstrated significantly lower mortality (HR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.60–0.85; P < 0.001) compared with those not ‘completely satisfied’. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported experience with service quality was an independent predictor of survival in NSCLC patients undergoing oncologic treatment, a novel finding in the literature. Based on these provocative findings, further exploration of this relationship is warranted in well-designed prospective studies.