Cultivating General Practice in the Garden of England
The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) provides feedback to GPStRs by providing a measure of the patient’s opinion of the doctor's relationship and empathy during a consultation. The evidence provided is useful in helping trainer and GPStR to address needs and facilitate educational development during the training period.
Obtaining Feedback
The GPStR and trainer should agree a date for the PSQ and a date for the feedback interview. The questionnaires and letters of explanation should be handed to consecutive patients (irrespective of their likelihood of responding) by the receptionist. The receptionist and trainer should complete the declaration form and return to the Deanery.
Patients complete the questionnaire and hand them back to the receptionist. This should continue until 40 completed forms have been returned. This may take a number of days. 40 forms are needed irrespective of whether the post is an ST3 or an ITP post.
The results should be entered into the GPStR’s ePortfolio. Each deanery will decide who will do this.
Using Feedback
Once analysed, the results are sent to the Educational Supervisor/Practice Manager. Results will be anonymous and will include mean, median and range for each question. The Educational Supervisor should familiarise themself with the feedback prior to the feedback interview and assimilate the numerical scores within the context of the GPStR’s overall performance. The Educational Supervisor can authorise the results to be transmitted to the GPStR's ePortfolio at any time. The GP trainer will then have access.
The feedback interview: The interviewer should ensure that the trainee understands the background and purpose of the PSQ. Discussion should centre around the GPStR's expectations in relation to the mean, median and range for each question.
The Professional Conversation log in the Education Section of the ePortfolio may be used to record the interview and any action plan arising from it.
The PSQ should be used once during months 31 to 34 (ST3, if in primary care).
A PSQ must also take place in ST1 or ST2, if the GPStR is in primary care.