Satisfaction of the legal representatives of children with the provision of medical care in urban health centers

Aim: To study the opinion of legal representatives of children on the quality of medical care provided in urban health centres.Material and research methods. The study is based on a survey of official representatives of children from 0 to 6 years old. One hundred sixty questionnaires containing 28 questions and 125 answers were analyzed.Results and discussion. Relatively low respondents’ satisfaction with various aspects of medical services in urban health centres (53%) was revealed. The reasons for dissatisfaction were: long waiting time for appointments (20,5%), difficulty in obtaining consultations with narrow profile doctors due to their absence in the centre (32,5%), the unsatisfactory sanitary condition of rooms (16%), the low technical infrastructure of health centres (23,2%). The reasons for dissatisfaction with the district doctor included a rushed examination (36.4%), insufficient attention to the child (22.7%), superficial examination (12.3%), prescription of expensive drugs (18.2%), and incompetence of the doctor (11.4%). Almost half of the patients (43.2%) turned to fee-for-service medicine for more qualified care. The survey results showed a high need for paediatricians (86.4%).Conclusion. The data obtained during the internal audit in a medical institution, in order to identify negative factors, can be used as an algorithm for action, i.e. to develop ways to improve the quality of medical services, with their subsequent adjustment and, as a consequence, to increase patient satisfaction with medical care.