Smiling and accessible health services: Assessment of patients

Abstract

The current study was done to determine whether smiling and accessible healthcare services were provided to the patients. This descriptive study was conducted at a university. The sample of the study was composed of 188 patients who were hospitalized in hospitals. The data were collected with a questionnaire consisted of 15 questions about patients' demographic characteristics and their views about smiling and were analyzed with percentages, means, chi-square test. In the selection of the healthcare personnel, 62% of the patients paid attention to the fact that healthcare personnel should be caring and behave well. However; 83% of the patients stated that they could contact nurses easily while only 2% of the patients could reach physicians easily. In conclusion, patients thought that nurses were more smiling and accessible than physicians and particularly medical secretaries.