Patients’ Satisfaction and Perception about Quality of Health Care in an Urban Primary Health Center of Athens, Greece

Maria Bakola, Eleni Avramidi, Konstantina Soultana Kitsou, Georgios Charalambous, Eleni Jelastopulu

Keywords: Patient satisfaction, Urban Primary Health Center, Primary healthcare services, patient waiting time

Background:

Measuring patient satisfaction of healthcare service quality represents an essential parameter in the overall assessment of a healthcare system and its performance.

Research questions:

The aim of this study was to investigate patient’s perceptions and satisfaction for services provided by an Urban Primary Health Center (UPHC) in Athens, Greece.

Method:

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was performed among 400 patients visiting the UPHC during November and December 2019 to assess the utilization and the satisfaction of services.

Results:

A total of 400 patients answered the questionnaire, 59.8% were female, 47.3% aged >60 years, 70% were inhabitants of the municipality where the UPHC belongs, 31.4% were employed and 40.5% were retired. The reason for visiting the UPHC was in 33% drug prescription, in 26.5% chronic disease monitoring and prescription, in 19.5% emergency care, in 8.8% follow-up examination and in 8.5% preventive care. Visiting the UPHC without making an appointment beforehand stated 65% of the patients. An overall good satisfaction with the primary care services stated 94.3% of the patients. Higher satisfaction is observed regarding the services provided by the medical (4.45/5) and nursing personnel (4.42/5), whereas lower satisfaction was observed with the waiting time for consultation (2.3/5).

Conclusions:

The study revealed an overall high satisfaction in patients receiving primary care services at the UPHC. However, there are areas that need improvement, such as waiting time for consultation. This study helped us to identify the problems and formulate strategies to improve the waiting time and the queuing system for walk-in patients.

Points for discussion:

Have other members carried out such a study in order to analyze and improve if needed the quality of primary care services in an urban primary health center?

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