TY - JOUR
T1 - An evaluation of patients' opinions of primary care physicians
T2 - The use of EUROPEP in Gaza Strip-Palestine
AU - Abu Mourad, Tayser
AU - Shashaa, Suzanne
AU - Markaki, Adelais
AU - Alegakis, Athanasios
AU - Lionis, Christos
AU - Philalithis, Anastas
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - The objective of this paper is to identify the level of patients' satisfaction with primary care physicians. Data were gathered from an exit interview using a standardized questionnaire (EUROPEP) and background variables. A total of 956 patients in fifteen primary health care clinics in Gaza Strip participated. Outcome measures is positive patient satisfaction (good and excellent ratings in the EUROPEP Index). As a results, the mean percentage of positive satisfaction with medical services was poor (41.8%). The poorest performance was recorded for: getting through to the clinic on the phone, being able to speak to physician on the telephone, time spent in waiting rooms and helping the patient deal with emotional problems. The comparison between clinical behaviour dimension and organization of care showed that clinical behaviour was evaluated higher. In conclusion, Palestinian patients expressed overall dissatisfaction with services provided by primary care physicians. These findings present a real challenge for Palestinian authority policy makers and administrators in terms of designing appropriate quality improvement strategies.
AB - The objective of this paper is to identify the level of patients' satisfaction with primary care physicians. Data were gathered from an exit interview using a standardized questionnaire (EUROPEP) and background variables. A total of 956 patients in fifteen primary health care clinics in Gaza Strip participated. Outcome measures is positive patient satisfaction (good and excellent ratings in the EUROPEP Index). As a results, the mean percentage of positive satisfaction with medical services was poor (41.8%). The poorest performance was recorded for: getting through to the clinic on the phone, being able to speak to physician on the telephone, time spent in waiting rooms and helping the patient deal with emotional problems. The comparison between clinical behaviour dimension and organization of care showed that clinical behaviour was evaluated higher. In conclusion, Palestinian patients expressed overall dissatisfaction with services provided by primary care physicians. These findings present a real challenge for Palestinian authority policy makers and administrators in terms of designing appropriate quality improvement strategies.
KW - EUROPEP
KW - Physician
KW - Primary health care
KW - Satisfaction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=35348836628&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10916-007-9090-z
DO - 10.1007/s10916-007-9090-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 18041283
AN - SCOPUS:35348836628
SN - 0148-5598
VL - 31
SP - 497
EP - 503
JO - Journal of Medical Systems
JF - Journal of Medical Systems
IS - 6
ER -