Doctor-patient Relationship Among Inpatients Of Xiangya Hospital

Objective:(1) To explore the status and distribution of doctor-patient relationship evaluation among inpatients in Xiangya Hospital;(2) To determine the effects of related factors and improvement measures of doctor-patient relationship;(3) To provide scientific evidences for constructing a harmonious doctor-patient relationship.Methods:By simple random sampling method,5departments were selected from36departments in Xiangya Hospital. During the investigation (one month), all the qualified inpatients of the5departments were taken as theoretical sample. Self-designed general information inventory and doctor-patient relationship evaluation inventory were applied to evaluate all the qualified inpatients.Results:282inpatients were identified as our sample. And276inpatients were investigated. The response rate was97.7%.According to the criteria of doctor-patient relationship evaluation,37(13.4%)thought very good,139(50.4%)thought good,83(30.1%) thought general,17(6.2%) thought bad.48(17.4%) inpatients experienced medical disputes. Among them,50%complained to relevant department,37.5%sought legal counsel,12.5%consulted with the parties. According to the health seeking behavior,80.8%of the inpatients were satisfied with service attitude,93.5%were satisfied with medical effect, and52.9%were satisfied with medical expenses.24.6%of the inpatients thought Xiangya Hospital would be the first choice for future health seeking behavior. And54.7%would choose according to the situation. The top five aspects the inpatients were most unsatisfied with were:high medical expenditure (64.1%), poor techniques (48.6%), bad attitude (40.9%), disrespecting patient privacy(27.2%), prescription of expensive and excessive drugs and falsely order of tests (19.9%). The top five aspects which were considered beneficial for improving doctor-patient relationship included:upgrading medical technology level (88.0%), perfecting legal and management system(74.6%), Increasing health care investment (55.4%), correct understanding of medical characteristics(49.3%), establishing and perfecting the communication channels between doctors and patients (41.7%)The distribution of doctor-patient relationship evaluation among inpatients with different socio-demographic characteristics (age, occupation, religion, educational level, residence, income level, payment manner of medical expenses) was quite different. The evaluations were higher among older, religious, rural, low-educational level and low incomes patients. Ordinal Regression show:payment manner increasing one grade (OR=2.238), judgment basis increasing one grade (OR=2.021), the inpatients who thought getting satisfactory medical service had much to do with whether there were connections in hospital (OR=4.162), mistrust of doctor (OR=2.839) were statistically significant factors of bad doctor-patient relationship.Conclusion:The evaluation of doctor-patient relationship tends to be positive in Xiangya Hospital. The evaluation is affected by several factors as stated. The hospital should pay more attention to the status of doctor-patient relationship in hospital management and the positive effect of harmonious doctor-patient relationship on normal medical order and disease course. The measures of improving the doctor-patient relationship should be strengthened.