Quality in Healthcare Services and quality indexes in the Emergency Department (ED)

Introduction: In recent years, the Greek Government and Health Organizations have tried to inspire and promote the improvement of quality, effectiveness and efficiency of hospitals through Total Quality Management (TQM). Aim: The aim was to define the results of this improvement effort using quality indexes of hospital unit services and focusing on patients coming to hospital’s emergency rooms (ER). Methods: Firstly, randomized and anonymous questionnaires were used to collect the data. Participants (N = 200), aged 20 to 60 years, came as patients in the Emergency Department of Hippocratio, Thessaloniki’s General Hospital during from 1/10/18 to 31/12/2018. Participants in the survey were asked to answer on a 5-point Likert scale as follows: 1=Not at all, 2=Little, 3=Pretty much, 4=Very much, 5=Very much. Statistical analysis of the survey data was performed with the IBM statistical package - SPSS Statistics v. 24.0 version for Windows. Results: The results emphasize the importance of evaluating the quality of care provided by assessing patients’ satisfaction through indicators in the Emergency Department of Hippocratio General Hospital in Thessaloniki. In particular, patients' satisfaction as they enter the Emergency Department was found higher concerning the medical-nursing services provided than the interaction with the administrative staff due to lack of staff. Conclusions: Despite the shortcomings of the hospital, the general level of quality of its services was considered to be sufficient in all areas. Therefore, potential improvements in service quality could be suggested to hospital unit management and lead to a general improvement in the visitor - patient experience.