Patient satisfaction in the outpatients' chemotherapy unit of Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey: a staff survey

Abstract

BackgroundWe conducted a survey to find out how patients feel about the care they receive in the outpatient chemotherapy unit of Marmara University Hospital.MethodsThe American College of Physicians Patient Satisfaction survey translated into Turkish was used. A meeting was held with all involved staff, before conducting the survey, to review the purpose and determine the process. The study was conducted with 100 random patients.ResultsConsistent with cancer frequency, most patients had either lung, colorectal or breast cancer. Their insurance was government sponsored in close to 90%. The educational levels were above Turkish median but consistent with the area the hospital is serving. They were coming to the unit on average 8.5 months. The responses were not influenced by the surveyed diagnosis, age, sex or educational status (p > 0,05). Particularly health care team's attention, trust and courtesy came forward as strong points. The weaknesses noted as difficulties in booking an outpatient doctor visit appointment because the phone line was busy or the secretary was not courteous, the excessive amount of time and effort it required to get laboratory and radiology results.ConclusionThe health care system is basically a service based industry and customer satisfaction is at utmost importance just as in other service-oriented sectors. We hope this study will shed light in that area and Turkish health care providers will pay closer attention to how their patients feel about the services that they are getting.

Psychiatric morbidity among cancer patients and awareness of illness

“…This may be related to the higher frequency of psychiatric disorders in the aware patients. Communication and providing satisfactory information about diagnosis, treatment and consent have important implications for psychological adjustment of cancer patients [35,41,43]. Understanding of the diagnosis indirectly, without having satisfactory information, may cause the individual to be stressed because of arousing suspicions of cancer and of the treatment.…”

“…The diagnosis of cancer is interpreted as being equivalent to a death sentence by most people in Turkey, as in many Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, the family of a patient may insist on the patient not hearing the word cancer [16,41,43]. They often fear that the outcome of treatment could be negatively affected by the patient being informed of the actual condition by a health professional, and the patient could develop severe psychiatric problems.…”

“…However, two Turkish studies have shown that 82-88% of patients with cancer are aware of their diagnosis. The authors concluded that this high percentage may reflect a concerted effort to increase the level of physician-patient communication about diagnosis and prognosis in their institutions [41,43].…”

Patients’ and Physicians’ Preferences for Approaches to Bone Metastases Treatment in Turkey

“…A diagnosis of cancer may be considered as a "death sentence", and therefore patients' relatives and physicians may insist on avoiding discussing the stage of the cancer in detail. 13 Sharing decision-making between patients and physicians has been shown to have a positive effect on treatment adherence and health outcomes. 35,36 Therefore, increasing the involvement of patients in treatment decisions in clinical practice is advocated.…”

“…In addition, at a time when the way that physicians treat patients is moving from a disease-centered approach to patient-centered care, more attention is being given not only to patients' awareness of their disease but also to their preferences regarding treatment options and delivery of care. 12,13 A discrete-choice experiment (DCE), which is a specific conjoint analysis elicitation format to evaluate the importance of different aspects in decision-making, was used to evaluate preferences for attributes corresponding to currently available BTAs. Preferences were elicited among patients with bone metastases from solid tumors and among physicians involved in the care of those patients in Turkey.…”