Background:
Patient satisfaction is being regarded as an outcome of care in
itself and one of the major contributors of better patients compliance
leading presumably to better clinical outcomes. So, patients'
evaluations can be used as a tool for quality improvement on the
practice as well as national level. Studies from the countries
with different health care systems found some important divergences
and lower patient satisfaction in Eastern Europe. Slovenia has
been facing transition of its politic as well its health care
system Data on patient satisfaction with general practice in Slovenia
are scarce and do not allow any comparison with the results from
other studies.
Aim:
To describe the level of patient satisfaction with family practice
in Slovenia and compare it to the satisfaction in other European
countries.
Methods:
An internationally developed instrument for patients' evaluations
of general practice care was used in a postal survey. A representative
sample of 36 family practices in Slovenia. 60 consecutive patients
in every practice were approached and offered a self-administered
questionnaire. 2160 questionnaires were handed out. Percentages
of patients reporting level of satisfaction on a five point Likert
scale for the items in the questionnaire.
Results:
On average 58,2% of respondents rated the received level of care
as excellent. Waiting in the waiting room was the worst rated
item (26,0%). Participants were also less satisfied with perceived
time during the consultation (51,6%). They were also less satisfied
with connectional aspects of care: feeling that family practitioners
showed interest in their personal situation (46,5%), feeling that
family practitioners made them easy to explain about problems
(49,1%). On the other hand patients praised many other aspects
of family practice care in Slovenia: confidentiality of medical
records (77,0%), listening capacity of their family physicians
(69,4%), being able to speak to the family practitioner on the
phone (72%).
Conclusions:
Patient satisfaction with family practice care in Slovenia showed
to be relatively high and in the same range as in the other European
countries. The results showed areas needed for quality improvement:
organisational changes to shorten the waiting time in the waiting
room and greater emphasise on the communication skills.
