Shanghai public medical institutions survey announced: the overall satisfaction rate of outpatients exceeded 95% last year

At present, how are patients satisfied with public medical institutions in Shanghai? What suggestions were made?

On February 23, the 2021 Shanghai Public Medical Institutions Patient Satisfaction Survey was released. The survey showed that the overall satisfaction score of outpatients in 2021 averaged 4.76 out of 5, and the overall satisfaction rate was 95.3%. In 2021, outpatients have significantly improved their satisfaction in terms of outpatient waiting time, toilet hygiene and safety in outpatient areas, outpatient appointments at different times, and reasonable medical costs.

The digital transformation of medical services has improved the patient experience, especially the "online registration payment zero waiting" for outpatients to make appointments at home, "one thing" for medical payment, "no sense of payment based on credit", and the shortening of waiting time after outpatient appointments, etc., which have significantly shortened the appointment rate of outpatients and the total time of outpatient visits.

The survey also reflects the needs of some outpatients, such as long appointments for outpatient imaging tests in hospitals, the elderly wanting to get better manual services such as telephone appointments, or more volunteer help.

Changes: Six items such as outpatient waiting time and medical expenses have improved significantly

Professor Xue Di of the School of Public Health affiliated to Fudan University said that more than 20,000 outpatient questionnaires were collected in the survey. The survey shows that the overall satisfaction score of outpatients in 2021 is an average of 4.76 points (out of 5 points), and the overall satisfaction rate is 95.30%.

Which improvements in medical services have been more pronounced? According to the survey: "I am satisfied with the waiting time in outpatient diagnosis and treatment" (increased by 13.83 percentage points), "hospital medical expenses are reasonable" (increased by 8.49 percentage points), "I am willing to recommend friends and relatives to this hospital for diagnosis and treatment" (increased by 8.33 percentage points), "the toilet in the outpatient area is clean and hygienic, odor-free, the ground is non-slip, there are safety signs, there are toilets, and there are hooks" (7.68 percentage points), "The hospital provides multi-channel outpatient time-sharing appointments, When necessary, medium- and long-term appointments (up to 3 months) are provided for outpatient and discharged follow-up patients" (an increase of 5.85 percentage points) and "hospital equipment (such as seats, elevators, drinking water equipment) is in good condition, with convenient and barrier-free facilities" (an increase of 5.25 percentage points).

Innovation: Digital transformation of healthcare reduces patient visit times

Shanghai public medical institutions actively participate in the digital transformation of "convenient medical services", which effectively improves the convenience and sense of access of ordinary people.

The survey shows that: in particular, the "online registration payment zero waiting" of outpatients who pay at home, the "one thing" of medical payment, "payment based on credit without feeling", and the shortening of the waiting time felt after the outpatient appointment have significantly shortened the appointment rate of outpatients and the total time of outpatient visits.

Survey data shows that the outpatient appointment rate in 2021 is 60.46%, an increase of about 27 percentage points over 2019. In 2021, the proportion of outpatients with a total consultation time of less than 1 hour was 35.81%, an increase of about 3 percentage points over 2019, while the proportion of total visits of 3 hours was 12.25%, a decrease of about 5 percentage points from 2019; in particular, the proportion of outpatients in tertiary hospitals with a total visit of less than 1 hour (24.21%) in 2021 increased by about 6 percentage points compared with 2019, while the proportion of total visits reaching or exceeding 3 hours (18.33%) ) is about 11 percentage points less than in 2019.

It is worth mentioning that the above survey also shows that in the promotion of the digital transformation of "convenient medical services", the digital gap between some patients, especially elderly patients, objectively exists. To this end, Shanghai public medical institutions have taken a series of measures, such as outpatients who cannot use health codes and itinerary codes can register to enter the outpatient department with id cards, and increase modern electronic equipment such as outpatient self-service registration machines and electronic invoice printers or guidance services for medical staff and volunteers to facilitate the convenient medical treatment of these patients.

Deficiencies: Outpatient imaging examinations, medical services for the elderly, etc. need to be improved

At present, what services of Public Medical Institutions in Shanghai need to be improved or perfected?

The survey shows that some outpatients have reported that "the waiting time for outpatient imaging and other examinations is long", "the waiting time of tertiary hospitals still needs to be shortened", "the elderly need better manual services or volunteer services", etc.

The data show that among the 4542 patients with outpatient gastrointestinal endoscopy, ultrasound, CT and magnetic resonance examination, 84.37% of the patients with an appointment date of less than 7 days, 6.01% of the outpatient examination appointment time is 14 days or more, especially the proportion of patients with an appointment time of 14 days or more for outpatient imaging examination in tertiary specialty hospitals is 11.03%; and 27.23% of the outpatients put forward the improvement opinions and suggestions of 3831 outpatients on outpatient medical services. Queue times need to be improved.

In addition, individual outpatient elderly people hope to get better manual services or more volunteer help, such as some elderly people feedback that there is no answer to telephone appointments. In addition, some outpatients expect public medical institutions to better provide humanized medical services, including doctors who should be more patient and empathetic, communicate more with patients, provide personalized treatment plans, and provide long prescriptions for outpatient chronic disease patients.

Longhua Hospital Internet Hospital. Courtesy of respondents

Attached: Units with high satisfaction in the 2021 Shanghai Public Medical Institutions Patient Satisfaction Survey

Tertiary comprehensive public medical institutions:

Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Dongfang Hospital, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Huadong Hospital, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Tertiary Specialized Public Medical Institutions:

Shanghai First Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai Dermatology Hospital, Shanghai Guanghua Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Affiliated Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai Chest Hospital

Regional Medical Centres:

Luwan Branch of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Pudong Hospital, Shanghai Pudong New Area Gongli Hospital, Shanghai Fengxian District Central Hospital, Shanghai Songjiang District Sijing Hospital, Shanghai Fengxian District Fengcheng Hospital, Shanghai Yangpu District Shidong Hospital, Shanghai Jing'an District Shibei Hospital, Shanghai Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Xuhui District Central Hospital

Community Health Service Centers:

Shanghai Fengxian District Nanqiao Town Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Huangpu District Yuyuan Street Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Jing'an District Shimen Erlu Street Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Songjiang District Xinqiao Town Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Qingpu District Zhujiajiao Town Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Changning District Jiangsu Road Street Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Yangpu District Dinghai Community Health Service Center, Shanghai Pudong New Area Jinqiao Community Health Service Center, Xujiahui Street Community Health Service Center in Xuhui District, Shanghai, and Dongjing Town Community Health Service Center in Songjiang District, Shanghai