Patient satisfaction and normative decision theory.

This article explores the application of normative decision theory (NDT) to the challenge of facilitating and measuring patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is the appraisal, by an individual, of the extent to which the care provided has met that individual's expectations and preferences. Classic decision analysis provides a graphic and computational strategy to link patient preferences for outcomes to the treatment choices likely to produce the outcomes. Multiple criteria models enable the complex judgment task of measuring patient satisfaction to be decomposed into elemental factors that reflect patient preferences, thus facilitating evaluation of care in terms of factors relevant to the individual patient. Through the application of NDT models, it is possible to use patient preferences as a guide to the treatment planning and care monitoring process and to construct measures of patient satisfaction that are meaningful to the individual. Nursing informatics, with its foundations in both information management and decision sciences, provides the tools and data necessary to promote care provided in accord with patient preferences and to ensure appraisal of satisfaction that aptly captures the complex, multidimensional nature of patient preferences.

本文探讨了将规范决策理论（Normative Decision Theory，NDT）应用于促进与评估患者满意度的相关难题。患者满意度指个体对其所接受的医疗服务在多大程度上满足了自身期望与偏好的评估判断。经典决策分析提供了一种可视化且可计算的策略，能够将患者对诊疗结局的偏好与可能产生该结局的治疗方案选择关联起来。多准则模型可将衡量患者满意度这一复杂判断任务拆解为反映患者偏好的基础要素，从而便于基于与个体患者相关的要素开展医疗服务评估。通过应用规范决策理论模型，能够以患者偏好作为治疗规划与护理监测流程的指导依据，并构建出对个体患者具有实际意义的患者满意度评估指标。护理信息学（Nursing Informatics）以信息管理与决策科学为基础，可为提供契合患者偏好的医疗服务提供必要的工具与数据支持，并确保满意度评估能够恰当地反映患者偏好所具有的复杂多维特性。