A patient satisfaction survey was conducted with ambulatory cancer patients to identify areas that they consider priorities for change. Wait times and telephone contact with healthcare providers were the 2 areas of lowest satisfaction. Despite previous interventions to improve wait times, it is consistently the lowest ranked item for patient satisfaction. A subset of patients who were followed by a nurse navigator was more satisfied with wait times than those who were not followed by a nurse navigator.

This article describes how a series of patient satisfaction surveys on a palliative care unit were used to help influence the care provided to patients and their families. Innovative interventions aimed at addressing areas of lower satisfaction identified in the initial survey are described. The results from a follow-up survey provided the opportunity to evaluate whether our interventions were effective in improving patient satisfaction and highlight new areas of concern needing to be addressed.