Development and internal validation of the patient satisfaction questionnaire: Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia (PQA)-10.

Background: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of anaesthesia quality. Existing questionnaires often lack patient input on item generation, are too lengthy, or were developed in culturally distinct regions. This study aimed to determine patient-perceived high-quality anaesthesia care and develop a short, validated questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction with peri-anaesthesia care in Switzerland.

Methods: The Swiss Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia questionnaire was developed and validated in two university hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland. A total of 245 patients identified and ranked 42 attributes of high-quality anaesthesia care, leading to the development of key themes using a six-stage thematic analysis. The final questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity with an additional 350 patients.

Results: Three themes were identified: communication during the pre-anaesthetic consultation, side-effects and adverse events, and the interpersonal and professional skills of the anaesthesia team. Test-retest reliability confirmed response consistency. Dimensionality analysis showed strong correlations between overall satisfaction and other item scores (0.68 and 0.74). A three-dimensional model demonstrated a very good fit: Tucker-Lewis Index of 0.977, comparative fit index of 0.985 (both range from 0 to 1; values closer to 1 indicate better fit), root mean squared error of approximation of 0.039 (values below 0.06 suggest good fit), and standardised root mean square residual of 0.04 (values below 0.08 suggest good fit). Average completion time was 146 s (sd 8 s).

Conclusions: This study validated the Perception of Quality in Anaesthesia as a tool for assessing patient satisfaction in individuals receiving anaesthesia care in Switzerland.