Assessment of health system response in the field of outpatient services in Tabriz Social Security Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO), in order to evaluate the performance of the health system, identifies the three axes of health promotion, responsiveness and fair financing as the main goals of the health system. This organization considers the best way to measure responsiveness as asking people about their experience with the health system, and these experiences have implications for the health outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the response of the health system to outpatient services in Tabriz Social Security Hospitals.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was of correlational and cross sectional type. The data gathering tool was a native Iranian questionnaire. The study population included patients referring to Tabriz Social Security Hospitals for outpatient services. Sampling was available so that by referring to the hospitals in question, the questionnaires were completed by 139 patients or their companions. The collected data were recorded and analyzed by SPSS23 software.

Results: The findings of this study showed that the average of the response scores in the field of outpatient services was 3.34 ± 0.36. The level of response in the field of quality of physical facilities has been higher and in the field of information and education to the patient has been lower than other areas. Regarding the importance of responding dimensions from the viewpoint of patients, the highest score was given to information and education to the patient (36.0). Then confidentiality and trust (9/2) are also the least important among other dimensions.

Conclusion: According to the findings of the study, the response of the hospitals was evaluated in a desirable situation. The placement of hospitals in a similar situation could indicate a fairness in the response among the Tabriz Social Security Hospitals. On the other hand, the study of the effect of demographic characteristics on people's perception of the level of response showed that the factors affecting the response are very diverse and with different effects that can justify a difference in perception of responsiveness in different cultures and societies. It also seems that hospital managers and the field of care need to pay attention to the importance of dimensions from the point of view of the people in order to focus their efforts on areas and dimensions that are more important for the people.