USEFULNESS OF PATIENT EVALUATION OF HOSPITAL SERVICES AND ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

Objective : In recent times, hospitals have adapted to changing trends in the service industry. Being flexible has proven necessary in order to provide excellent patient care and meet productivity and efficiency goals. Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital routinely conducts surveys to obtain voluntary patient responses on treatment provided and patient satisfaction. The surveys encourage patients to share their opinions, which are crucial to improving the quality of medical service. Methods : 1) We analyzed the data from patient satisfaction surveys collected from the outpatients of Urayasu Hospital over three years. 2) We further analyzed the voluntary opinions collected at Urayasu Hospital over about four years. The opinions forms have five fields : operation system, facilities, reception, medical treatment, and others. Opinions were also compared based on survey month and year 3) We also examined the effects of interventions resulting from complaints that were reported in the surveys. Measurement and Result : The number of patient satisfaction surveys returned showed almost no chanfes year to year. The voluntary opinions submitted increased over the four years. The surveys results mainly showed complaints. A trend was noted in that the complaints about reception and medical treatment decreased as Urayasu Hospital reacted by providing more employee orientation. On the other hand, the number of complains about the hospital's operating system, facilities and the start of the fiscal year increased over the years that the survey was taken. These points had not been addressed with intervention. Conclusions : The survey results showed that obtaining voluntary opinions from patients is crucial to improving hospital medical services, and the items in the patient satisfaction surveys were found to be effective for monitoring the processes and systems of medical service. These findings demonstrated that hospitals should take a flexible approach to administration that allows evolution in patients' attitudes and expectations. We found that surveys are an effective tool for monitoring the results of chanfes in the administration of medical services.