Predictors of patient satisfaction with inpatient hospital pain management across the United States: A national study.

Overview

Satisfactory pain management of hospitalized patients remains a national unmet need for the United States. Although prior research indicates that inpatient pain management may be improving nationally, not all populations of patients rate pain management as equally satisfactory. County-level predictors, such as demographics and population density, and hospital-level predictors (eg, hospital-bed number), are understudied determinants of pain management patient satisfaction. We created a multivariate regression model of pain management patient satisfaction scores as indicated by Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey results based on county and hospital level predictors. Number of hospital beds (β = -0.16), percent foreign-born (β = -0.16), and population density (β = -0.08) most strongly predicted unfavorable ratings, whereas African American (β = 0.23), white (β= 0.23), and younger population (β = 0.08) most strongly predicted favorable ratings. Greater attention should be placed on pain management in larger hospitals that serve foreign-born patients in population-dense areas. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:498-501. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine.