Assessment of general medical practice in a multidimensional design of patient satisfaction with the quality of medical care

Abstract

Introduction. The policy and practice of the Russian healthcare system in the area of person-centered care aims to involve the patient in the treatment process with an individual approach to their needs and expectations. 
 The quality of medical care is increasingly evaluated through the perception of the patient, his/her satisfaction. In this regard, the design of person-centered medicine is multi-dimensional, forming a partnership relationship between the parties involved — doctor, patient, health care provider — in making joint decisions. 
 The purpose of the study. Assessment of general practice (GP) through individual patient preferences 
 in a multidimensional construct of satisfaction with the quality of care. 
 Material and methods. The international EUROPEP questionnaire was used. Statistical processing of the study materials was performed using Statistica 10 and SAS JMP 11.
 Results. Statistically significant differences in respondents’ satisfaction depending on the age and gender 
 (p < 0.0001) were revealed. The predominance of a positive opinion on the totality of all the analyzed criteria of satisfaction among female respondents is shown. At the same time male respondents gave positive estimation of quality of general medical practice only in such two groups of observation as in age category of 36–45 years old — 53.09 % and 66.67 % of persons older than 75 years old. 
 Research limitations. The research is limited to the survey of a certain number of patients of medical institutions in Moscow to assess the GP in terms of satisfaction with the quality of medical care provided.
 Conclusion. New data have been obtained on different respondents’ perceptions of the quality of standardized medical care provided by GPs, and the assessment of satisfaction with its quality depending on the age and gender of the adult population. The satisfaction of male respondents with the quality of medical care was shown to be lower in all age groups except 53.09% (36–45 years) and 66.67% (over 75 years). Female respondents expressed satisfaction on the aggregate of all opinion-forming factors.