Impact of medical social work service package on service efficiency and patient satisfaction in general practice outpatient service / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effects of medical social workers on the service efficiency and patient satisfaction in general practice outpatient service . Methods A randomized controlled intervention study was conducted at general practice department of Shanxi Dayi Hospital in June 2017.Three hundred and thirty patients were randomly selected and assigned into two groups 159 patients received intervention with medical social work service package ( intervention group ) and 163 patients served as controls.The service package included advising service , counseling service, accompanying service, comfort service, intervention guidance service , etc.The average time per visit and patient satisfaction were compared between two groups and the effectiveness of intervention was evaluated by interview of doctors .Results There were no statistically significant differences in gender , age, occupation and insurance categories between the two groups (P ＞0.05).The average time per visit patients in the intervention and control groups were 18 (15,22) min and 21 (15,25) min, respectively (Z＝2.364, P＝0.018).The highest degree of patient satisfaction in the control group was the attitude of doctors (36/40, 90.0%), and the lowest was in the setting of consulting room (20/40, 50.0%).The highest degree of satisfaction in the intervention group was the "comfortable with doctors" (40/40, 100.0%), followed by the affinity nature of social workers ( 38/40, 95.0%), and the lowest was the environmental satisfaction index ( 32/40, 80.0%).The satisfaction of comfortableness with doctors , clinic environment and consultation process in intervention group [(40/40,100.0%)、(32/40,80.0%)、(37/40,92.5%)] was higher than that in control group [(29/40,72.5%)、(20/40,50.0%)、(30/40,75.0%)] (χ2＝12.754, 7.912, 4.501, P＜0.05).Conclusion Intervention provided by medical social workers can improve the efficiency of general practice outpatient service and improve the satisfaction of patients .