Patient satisfaction: evaluating the success of hospital ward redesign.

Patients who were moved from a traditional medical ward to a new state-of-the-art medical ward were surveyed regarding their perceptions of quality during their hospitalization. Respondents rated the environment of the state-of-the-art facility, as well as the overall quality of their hospital stay, more positively. However, fewer differences in perceptions of the quality of the broader hospital environment and little difference in the perceived quality of staff-patient interactions were found. Findings indicated that enhancing the facilities of the patient care environment improved patients' overall perceptions of the quality of their hospital stay.