Inpatients’ opinion on quality of health care
Abstract
Material and methods. A multistage stratified probability sampling was performed in 22 general hospitals in Lithuania. A total of 2060 questionnaires were distributed during November 2006 and February 2007. The response rate was 97.38%; 2006 inpatients responded to the questionnaire; 1917 questionnaires (93.06%) were eligible for analysis. The modified survey instrument of Picker Institute Europe was used for inpatients. The method of survey was follows: each discharged inpatient filled out the questionnaire on the day of his/her discharge. The assessment of quality of care involved such aspects as patients’ communication with medical personnel, organizational issues and coordination of care, patients’ possibility of participation in medical decision-making, physical environment, accessibility to services, and safety of health care.
Results. Six dimensions were identified from the factor analysis, explaining 51.48% of the variance. Cronbach alpha was 0.7931 for all dimensions. The majority (91.9%) of respondents evaluated health care services as good and very good. Inpatients were most satisfied with communication with their doctors. Even 91.5% of respondents noted that the doctors provided enough information about their health and treatment. The majority of inpatients gave high positive responses on respect showed to them and confidence with doctors. Correlation analysis confirmed a stronger positive correlation among three items of the global assessment of the quality and patients’ ratings on respect and confidence. Several problems were highlighted in the field of patients’ autonomy. The possibility of participation in medical decision-making was the dimension with the lowest level of patients’ rating. Less than half (42.3%) of inpatients noted that they did not have a possibility of participation in medical decision-making to the extent they were willing.
Conclusions. Patients gave highly positive responses on the overall evaluation of the quality of health care services. The priority field in the improvement of health care quality is to create more possibilities for patients’ participation in medical decision-making. Results of the present study indicate that future studies need to include more detailed measurements of patients’ autonomy as dynamic changes are observed today in this field.
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Brogienė, D.; Gurevičius, R. Inpatients’ opinion on quality of health care. Medicina 2009, 45, 226. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina45030030
Brogienė D, Gurevičius R. Inpatients’ opinion on quality of health care. Medicina. 2009; 45(3):226. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina45030030
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrogienė, Daiva, and Romualdas Gurevičius. 2009. "Inpatients’ opinion on quality of health care" Medicina 45, no. 3: 226. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina45030030
APA StyleBrogienė, D., & Gurevičius, R. (2009). Inpatients’ opinion on quality of health care. Medicina, 45(3), 226. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina45030030