Patients’ perceptions of ambulatory healthcare work organisation and communication in healthcare entities

Abstract

The aim of the presented research was to analyse the relationship between assessments regarding the perception of elements of organisation and communication of a healthcare entity and the age of patients. The work focused on non-medical benefits for the patient, which may influence their satisfaction and the choices they make. The main rationale justifying the need to conduct research was the desire to verify patients’ perceptions, which was expressed as the degree of satisfaction with the clinic’s services. Two aspects were examined: work organisation and communication between the clinic and the patient.The research was conducted in medical facilities in the city of Częstochowa among patients currently using ambulatory medical care. The test groups were divided depending on the age of the respondents. In order to obtain data, an original survey questionnaire was used. The following research hypotheses were formulated: (H1) age of respondents influences perceptions of elementsof the clinic’s work organisation; (H2) age of respondents influences perceptions of elements of the clinic’s communication with patients; (H3) satisfaction with the healthcare entity’s services (in terms of organisation and communication) increases with patient age. The basis for formulating the hypotheses was a review of research on social inequalities, inequalities in access to healthcareand patient satisfaction studies. In order to verify the hypotheses, statistical methods were used: the Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Calculations were made using the Statistica software.The obtained results confirmed the validity of all hypotheses. The Mann-Whitney test confirmed that the age of respondents significantly affects the assessment of work organisation and communication between the clinic and the patient (H1 and H2). Furthermore, the obtained Spearman correlation values confirmed that patient satisfaction with the clinic’s services increaseswith the patient’s age (H3).