Hidden impact of clinical pathway on patient satisfaction — A controlled trial in elective cesarean section

There are many indicators that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical pathway (CP). To choose a proper indicator, besides the characteristics of the disease, some social cultural factors have to be taken into consideration. According to the specialty of elective cesarean section and Chinese social and cultural characteristics, the measurement of "patient satisfaction" was chosen as the suitable indicator to judge the effect of CP. And a controlled trial of CP of elective cesarean section was conducted in a Chinese hospital. A total of 232 satisfaction survey results were collected. Usually, the survey data collected from CP group and control group are regarded as in the same quality level so they are directly compared with each other to demonstrate the effectiveness of CP. However, in this paper, the quality difference between the two sets of trial data is explored. And a data process (RVAM) method is proposed and tested with the practical data. This paper demonstrates that CP can improve the survey data quality through stimulating interactions between patients and the medical staff. RVAM can be employed to improve the survey data quality further. In addition, some meaningful service quality improvement strategies are obtained with better data.