This article has been retracted. See "Retraction: Efficient Induction of Dopaminergic Neurons from Embryonic Stem Cells for Application to Parkinson's Disease" in Volume 45 on page 1203.
This article has been corrected. See "Erratum" in Volume 46 on page 448.
Abstract
Seeking to understand patient perspectives is an important step in the efforts to improve the quality of health care. Developed by the EQuiP Task Force on Patient Evaluations of General Practice Care, the EUROPEP instrument aims to collect information on patient evaluations of general practice care.
In order to expose the current state of patient satisfaction and make international comparisons, a study was conducted with relevant data collected from Turkey.
The Turkish version of the EUROPEP instrument was administered to 1160 patients in six different Turkish cities. Thirty-three medical practices were included in the study. In every practice, a minimum of 30 adult patients who visited the practice for a consultation were consecutively included. The results were compared with previous values from European countries.
"Helping you understand the importance of following his or her advice", "Getting through to the practice on the telephone", and "Providing quick services for urgent health problems" were evaluated best (76.7%, 76.3%, and 76.2%, 'good or excellent' ratings, respectively) and "Helping to deal with emotional problems related to the health status" was rated the worst (60.2%, 'good or excellent'). Other areas which had low ratings were: "Waiting time in the waiting room" (63.0%), "Quick relief of symptoms" (61.3%), and "Involving patients in decisions about medical care" (61.3%).
Patient evaluations can help to educate medical staff about their achievements as well as their failures, assisting them to be more responsive to their patients' needs. In order to get the best benefit from EUROPEP, national benchmarking should be started to enable national and international comparisons.