Patients’ 2 main bugbears about hospitals
Print Edition
MORE than half of patients visiting local leading public hospitals have to spend over two hours there, while the average doctor’s service time during a patient’s first visit is only 7.45 minutes, according to a patients’ satisfaction survey released yesterday.
In a survey on local hospitals’ services and patients’ demands, Shanghai Medical Ethos Association, in cooperation with Fudan University’s public health school, questioned 15,000 patients at 65 hospitals, covering the entire health service system.
High medical bills, disgusting toilets and long waiting times were the three leading problems for people at out-patient departments. Food and medical bills were the main gripes of hospitalized patients, the survey found.
“Patients gave high recognition to local medical staffs’ work and devotion to their job, and they highly respected patients’ privacy,” said Xue Di, chief expert of the survey from Fudan University. But the long waiting and short times with doctors, were criticized by patients, she added.
Experts said the contradiction between large number of patients and limited health resources should be resolved by having a classified health system — patients with common and chronic diseases should visit neighborhood health centers and district-based hospitals, and leading hospitals should serve patients with complicated and serious diseases.
“Shanghai is promoting a classified health system to encourage patients to visit neighborhood health centers at first and then turn to district and city-level hospitals in order to release burden of leading hospitals,” said Fan Guanrong, director of Shanghai Medical Ethos Association.
Local hospitals said they had taken many measures to improve their service and to meet patients’ demands.
Zhongshan Hospital “has streamlined the fee collection process and clarified each item on the bill,” said Wang Xin, the hospital’s Party secretary. The hospital publicized its fees on a big screen in the lobby to notify patients of what charges to expect.
“Medical staff are also encouraged to give more explanation on testing items and treatment plans to patients and their families for better understanding on the total fee,” he said.
Officials from Shanghai No. 1 Maternity and Infant Hospital said the hospital had fully introduced social media and Internet into patient registration, test result checking, bill payment and patient education to make it more convenient for patients.
“About 30 percent of the daily out-patient registration is conducted through WeChat at our hospital, while about 60 percent of prenatal out-patient treatment is registered through WeChat, which greatly makes it more convenient for patients,” said Zuo Ying, a hospital official. “Pregnant women can easily check their testing results and pay the bill through their smartphone.”
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