Biomedical subjects

Ludmiła Marcinowicz

Publications and source records attributed to Ludmiła Marcinowicz.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

[Patient's satisfaction in the light of the Polish empirical studies--an attempt to elucidate a secret of high satisfaction with care].

UNLABELLED: Patients' satisfaction is the subject of interest of many researchers, which is reflected in a number of studies devoted to this problem, published in Polish medical journals. This indicates high interest in the subject and is a prerequisite for the outcome analysis. AIM: Presentation of the findings of Polish empirical studies on patients' satisfaction, determination which elements of health care contribute to patients' satisfaction and which cause dissatisfaction and an attempt to elucidate the causes of high patients' satisfaction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study used the method of a literature review. Polish Medical Bibliography of 1991-2004 was used as the subject basis for the analysis. Using the key words "patient's satisfaction" 119 reports were found. Of that number all empirical studies (50) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: The studies on patients' satisfaction focus on the quality of hospital care (78%). Fewer studies refer to primary care (20%). A majority of patients reported high satisfaction with health care. CONCLUSIONS: The studies on satisfaction do not have a reliable theoretical support. A qualitative approach that would help find out what is really important from the patient's point of view should be more widely employed.

Family Practice↗

PubMed2005

[Contribution of family doctors to health promotion among their patients].

Health promotion is a major task of family doctors. Doctors contribute to health promotion by e.g. providing information to their patients on health promoting as well as harmful behaviours. The aim of the study is to find out how frequently family doctors undertake health promoting actions among their patients and to determine a likely difference in these actions between public and non-public health care institutions. The investigations were carried out among patients of two basic health care institutions, public and non-public, in Białystok. Of all patients aged 18 and over being under care of family doctors, 1000 people were drawn (500 from each institution). Mail questionnaire technique was employed. Of 579 returned questionnaires, 560 were used for analysis. The analysis included situations the patients encountered at the family doctor's. Responding to the question whether during a visit the family doctor referred to tobacco smoking, mode of nutrition, physical activity, harmful effects of alcohol abuse and the way of coping with stress, the patients declared that a given situation occurred "always", "frequently", seldom" and "never". Family doctors most frequently discussed the problem of nutrition and physical activity, while alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking were most seldom touched upon. No significant difference was found in the frequency of health promoting actions between family doctors in public and non-public institutions of health care.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Functioning of family nursing in transition: an example of a small town in Poland. Are there any benefits for patients?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether organizational changes in the Polish health care system affected patients' opinions about selected aspects of the quality of care provided by family nurses. DESIGN: Two independent surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002 using face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study was performed in a small town in Poland, where family physicians were introduced in 1995. The study groups consisted of two samples of patients randomly selected from those registered on the patient list. Altogether 1000 interviews were obtained in survey I (in 1998) and 1000 from another sample in survey II (in 2002). In 1998, family nurses were employed by family physicians, but in 2002 they had established their own practices and held direct contracts with the National Health Fund. RESULTS: The surveys carried out at a 4-year interval showed a significant increase in the percentage of patients reporting home visits by family nurses, both at the request of physicians and on the nurses' own initiative (from 16.3 to 45.8%, P < 0.05). Comparative analysis showed that in survey II the percentage of the respondents who were satisfied with nursing care increased from 35.8 to 53.6% (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Care provided by independent nurses was available to a larger group of patients. Patients were more satisfied with the services of family nurses working as independent contractors. The investigations in the present study should be supplemented by a qualitative study.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

[Patients' expectations for medical care--concepts, typology, research methods].

The article reviews literature concerning patients' expectations for medical care. The concept of expectations, typology and research methods are discussed. The author indicates the need for in-depth investigations to determine how patients define their expectations. Qualitative techniques are of help. The standardization of terminology will enable a comparison of patients' expectations in Poland with patients' expectations in other countries.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

[Assessment of the validity and reliability of the Polish version of the SF-36 questionnaire--preliminary findings].

The SF-36 is a subjective health measure for use in population surveys. It consists of 36 questions which allow evaluation of eight health dimensions. The aim of the study was to assess the validity and reliability of Polish version of the SF-36. A Polish version of the SF-36 questionnaire was used to investigate 1,000 randomly chosen patients of family doctors in Gizycko. The research material was collected by interview technique. The internal consistency was assessed with the Cronbach's alpha statistics. The study revealed significant validity and reliability of the Polish version of SF-36.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

[Methodologic difficulties in measuring patient satisfaction--discrepancy coming from formulating questions].

Reports concerning methodology of studies on patients' satisfaction suggest that the way questions are composed may have significant effect on the received answers. For example responses to closed-ended questions are usually positive, while in contrast, the responses to open-ended questions tend to be negative. This is described as "leniency effect". The aim of the present study was to compare the difference in patients' answers to open and closed questions in a survey on patients' satisfaction with family doctor services. The study was carried out in two general practices in Białystok, Poland and participants were randomly chosen from the patients' lists of their physicians. The survey was conducted by the technique of mailed questionnaire. Of the total 1000 questionnaires sent out, 579 were filled in and returned, and 560 were eligible for further analysis. The results show the discrepancy between the rating given by patients in a five-grade scale and their own answers to open questions. Among 216 individuals grading family doctor's care as fairly good in an answer to a closed question, 42 persons (19.4%) used phrases expressing negative feelings in an answer to an open question asking for justification of their opinion. Most frequently negative comments were related to short time of consultation, difficulty with obtaining referral to a specialist and lack of holistic approach to a patient. The results of our study suggest that questionnaires are not sufficiently precise tools in a complex evaluation of doctors' care by their patients. In practice this may mean that questionnaire surveys, which are often used because of the ease of administration, may require to be complemented or replaced by other more qualitative research tools, such as in depth interviews and open questions.

Adult↗