Characteristics and satisfaction of outpatients in walk-in clinic of a Grade A tertiary hospital / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the characteristics and satisfaction of outpatients in walk-in clinic of a grade A tertiary hospital.Methods A total of 1 100 outpatients visiting walk-in clinic of the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University during March 2016 and June 2016 were randomly selected for the questionnaire survey.The self-designed questionnaire included the general information of patients,the satisfaction degree to the walk-in clinic,to special clinics of the hospital or to community clinics and related reasons,and suggestions for further improvement.Results Total 947 valid questionnaires were received with a retrieval rate of 86.09％.Most of participants had one chronic disease (594,62.72％).The satisfaction degree of walk-in clinic (1.78) was higher than that of hospital special clinics (1.93) (P =0.010),in turn the latter(2.33)was higher than that of conmmnity clinics (P ＜ 0.001).The reasons for patient to choose the walk-in clinic were wide range of medications (389,41.08％),reliable quality (285,27.98％),short waiting time (249,26.29％) and so on.Suggestions for improvement of the walk-in clinic were further reducing the waiting time (428,45.20％),need specialists for chronic disease management (210,22.18％),raising reimbursement rate (172,18.16％) and so on.The reasons for patients to choose special clinic were need readjusting prescription (587,61.99％),special disease or drug (427,45.09％).The reasons of dissatisfaction with special clinic were long waiting time (476,50.26％),frequent transfer to multiple departments (221,23.34％),high registration fee (221,23.34％).The reasons for patients to choose community clinic were short distance (350,36.96％),better environment (350,36.96％),short waiting time (184,19.43％).The reason of dissatisfaction with community clinic were low qualification of medical staff (405,42.77％),insufficient medications (392,42.39％);distrusting the quality of drugs (263,27.77％).Suggestions for improvement of the community clinics were upgrading the qualification of medical staff (317,33.47％),enlarging drug variety (298,31.47％),improving medical environment (94,9.93％) and so on.Conclusion Most outpatients visiting walk-in clinic of grade A tertiary hospital are highly satisfied the clinic.To meet the patients' needs the primary medical unit should further improve their overall service.