Last update:
05-Jun-2022

OBJECTIVE Investigation of patient satisfaction with the local health units (TOMY), of the 1st Health Region of Attica.

METHOD A survey was conducted, with 320 questionnaires completed by patients selected by convenience sampling from those who visited TOMY of the 1st Health Region of Attica, from September 2018 to February 2019. The data were collected using the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18 (PSQ-18) and were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.0.

RESULTS The average age of the participants was 53.3±16.6 years. Most of the visits of the participating patients were to a pathologist (49.1%). The patients visited TOMY for two main reasons; to procure a medical prescription (20.0%), and to have a medical examination (18.4%). The average time between telephone contact and day of appointment was 10.3 days. Patient satisfaction, according to their scores on PSQ-18, was high to very high on all the individual parameters of satisfaction ("Communication", "Interpersonal manner", "Time spent with doctor", "Technical quality", "General satisfaction", "Accessibility and convenience"). The higher educational level of the patients (p=0.001), and the number of days between telephone contact and appointment (p<0.001) were related to lower satisfaction. Higher self-assessment of health status (p=0.012), number of visits to TOMY (p=0.004) and the age of the patient (p=0.004) were related to higher satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS Based on the high levels of patient satisfaction on the individual parameters of PSQ-18, it is evident that the patients of TOMY of the 1st Health Region are moderately to very satisfied with the health services provided. Despite the fact that TOMY are new primary health care (PHC) units, it appears that patients use them and are benefited by them.

Key words: Attica, Health services, Patient satisfaction, Primary health care, Quality.