‘POSTE’ study (Patients OSTeopathic Experience): A UK national survey of patients: Part III

Abstract Background Patient satisfaction is a complex process, which is not solely based on the patient outcome, but also patient's perception and expectation as well as communication and information from the healthcare practitioner. Patients who are satisfied are known to have greater treatment compliance, better outcomes and result in fewer malpractice cases. Methods Adverts were placed in a number of national newspapers; posters were placed in osteopathic clinics, Osteopathic Educational Institutes and GP surgeries directing patients who had undergone osteopathic treatment to an online or postal questionnaire. Not all questions needed to be completed. Respondents could answer for good and/or bad experiences. Local ethical approval was granted. Results There were 764 responses: 547 responses reported a good experience, 68 reported a bad experience and 149 reported both good and bad experiences. There was no significant difference in gender ( p  = 0.14) or age for reported experience. There was no difference in health status and reported experiences ( p  = 0.7). Those who reported good experiences were significantly more likely to have been referred to an osteopath ( p  = 0.01), though referral was from a number of sources. There was no statistical significance between the expectation of recovery or outcome between good and bad experiences. Visual analogue scale after treatment was significantly lower in those who reported a good experience compared to those who had a bad experience ( p p  ≤ 0.01) and the osteopaths were significantly less likely to have performed a risk assessment with respondents who described a bad experience ( p p Conclusions Osteopathic patients report a high level of satisfaction in both this current study and in other published studies. However, those patients who did report a bad experience one of the issues was a failure of the osteopath to explain to the patient the treatment method, the risks and to perform a risk assessment. Explaining treatment effects and risks more effectively could further improve patient satisfaction in osteopathy.