Zufriedenheit Ambulanter Kardialer Patienten

Patient satisfaction of cardiological outpatients. The quality and cost of medical care has come increasingly under scrutiny. Although objective data are important, the subjective assessment by the patients themselves also plays an important role. In this context a quality control study was carried out at the outpatient unit of the division of cardiology at the University Hospital Zürich using a questionnaire. Most of the questionnaires (82%) were returned. The predominance of males and patients with a mean age of around 60 years reflects the demographic characteristics of this population in Switzerland. Most patients were referred by their family doctor or cardiologist, about a quarter by other hospitals, but only a few by themselves (14%). About a quarter visited for the first time, the rest for repeated times. The reason given for the referal was most commonly the recommendation of their physician, the competence of the center or a previous experience. Distance from the hospital or the time to get the appointment played no role. The invitation letter was judged excellent. The average time spent in the hospital amounted to 2 hours and 38 minutes. On average 4,2 examinations per patient were carried out. In 199 out of 202 patients was a clinical examination performed, an ECG in almost all patients, while about . The quality and cost of medical care has come increasingly under scrutiny. Although objective data are important, the subjective assessment by the patients themselves also plays an important role. In this context a quality control study was carried out at the outpatient unit of the division of cardiology at the University Hospital Zürich using a questionnaire. Most of the questionnaires (82%) were returned. The predominance of males and patients with a mean age of around 60 years reflects the demographic characteristics of this population in Switzerland. Most patients were referred by their family doctor or cardiologist, about a quarter by other hospitals, but only a few by themselves (14%). About a quarter visited for the first time, the rest for repeated times. The reason given for the referal was most commonly the recommendation of their physician, the competence of the center or a previous experience. Distance from the hospital or the time to get the appointment played no role. The invitation letter was judged excellent. The average time spent in the hospital amounted to 2 hours and 38 minutes. On average 4,2 examinations per patient were carried out. In 199 out of 202 patients was a clinical examination performed, an ECG in almost all patients, while about 3//4 had blood tests or an exercise test. An echo was performed in about 50% and a chest X-ray in about 30%. Waiting time ranged from a few minutes at the reception from to 7 minutes for blood sampling up to 18 minutes for an X-ray exam­ination. Subjectively 98% of the patients rated waiting times of less than 10 minutes accept­able; 84% still considered waiting times of up to 20 minutes acceptable. As expected, the degree of dissatisfaction rose with increasing waiting time. The average satisfaction rate for organisational aspects amounted to 87, 84 for social aspects and 68 for technical aspects. The latter was more than anything due to the low rating of the infrastructure. In conclusion, this investigation in cardiological outpatients revealed acceptable organization, reasonable waiting times, reasonable total duration of the time spent in the hospital as well as a good patient satisfaction. The survey also provided insights into areas of improvement in the out patient sector. had blood tests or an exercise test. An echo was performed in about 50% and a chest X-ray in about 30%. Waiting time ranged from a few minutes at the reception from to 7 minutes for blood sampling up to 18 minutes for an X-ray exam­ination. Subjectively 98% of the patients rated waiting times of less than 10 minutes accept­able; 84% still considered waiting times of up to 20 minutes acceptable. As expected, the degree of dissatisfaction rose with increasing waiting time. The average satisfaction rate for organisational aspects amounted to 87, 84 for social aspects and 68 for technical aspects. The latter was more than anything due to the low rating of the infrastructure. In conclusion, this investigation in cardiological outpatients revealed acceptable organization, reasonable waiting times, reasonable total duration of the time spent in the hospital as well as a good patient satisfaction. The survey also provided insights into areas of improvement in the out patient sector.