Patient Satisfaction and Patient Experience are not Interchangeable Concepts (Letter)

Abstract

I write after reading with great interest the recent review by Anufriyeva and colleagues[1] regarding the validity and reliability of self-reported satisfaction measures. This is a wellwritten and comprehensive review, and the authors should be commended on their efforts to synthesise this body of literature. I would like to raise a point of contention regarding the authors’ confusing conceptualisation of ‘patient satisfaction’. That is – ‘patient satisfaction’ and ‘patient experience’ are not interchangeable concepts.