ABSTRACT
Objective@# To investigate patients' satisfaction rate towards referral in a class A tertiary hospital, so as to provide the evidence for promoting the highly efficient implementation of referral. @*Methods @#The gender, age, type of referral, referral efficiency and referral cost of patients receiving referral services in 2021 were collected through the interconnected intelligent hierarchical diagnosis and treatment collaborative platform of Henan Provincial People's Hospital. Patients' awareness and recognition of the two-way referral system were investigated using questionnaire surveys, and factors affecting patients' satisfaction with referral were identified using a multivariable logistic regression model.@* Results@# A total of 1 268 patients receiving referral services were surveyed, including 576 men (45.43%) and 692 women (54.57%), and the respondents were predominant at ages of 18 years and older (935 cases, 73.74%). There were 535 cases with overdue referral (42.19%) and 1 157 cases with free referrals (91.25%). There were 749 cases that were aware of the two-way referral system (59.07%), and 587 cases recognized the two-way referral system (46.29%). There were 975 patients with a satisfactory attitude towards referral, with a satisfaction rate of 76.89%. There were 1 030 cases (81.23%) that considered fluent communication of referral information, with a 78.54% satisfaction rate towards referral; 569 cases (44.87%) that considered simple referral procedures, with an 81.37% satisfaction rate towards referral, and 797 cases that were satisfied with the services provided by the referred medical staff (62.85%), with a 79.42% satisfaction rate towards referral. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that non-overdue referrals (OR=1.846, 95%CI: 1.411-2.414), free referrals (OR=1.815, 95%CI: 1.188-2.773), awareness of the two-way referral system (OR=0.624, 95%CI: 0.472-0.826), recognition of the two-way referral system (OR=1.621, 95%CI: 1.235-2.129) were factors affecting the satisfaction with referral.@*Conclusions@# The satisfaction rate towards referral was 76.89% among the study patients, and the awareness and recognition of the two-way referral system, referral efficiency and convenience are factors affecting the satisfaction with referral.