[An enquiry on client opinions about quality of care in a public hospital].
BACKGROUND
The level of satisfaction of patients with the services provided by public hospitals is becoming an important issue for health authorities.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze an enquiry applied to patients, about the level of satisfaction with the service provided by a public regional hospital in Chile.


METHODS
An enquiry was applied to 150 ambulatory (76% women) and 50 hospitalized patients (56% women). It included 28 questions about management aspects of health care and 20 questions about client satisfaction. Data was analyzed using factorial analysis and multiple regressions.


RESULTS
The manners of hospital personnel were the factor with the highest impact on the perception of patients about global quality of services. Attention timing was the most influential aspect on global satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
There results confirm those from abroad and can orient an adequate management of public hospital.
Riveros S
Jorge
J
Instituto de Administración, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile. jriveros@uach.cl
Berné M
Carmen
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000592:standards; D002677:Chile; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis