İşletme Bilimi Dergisi

Öz

Health is
one of the most important part of human life. Even if human beings have all the
means other than health, they need health in order to enjoy the life.  But it seems that we do not understand its
value and importance for our lives unless we loose it. Maybe the phrase of
”Health is the beginning for everything” may be the best description for its
importance. With modern life, health has become an increasingly important
issue. Hence, investment decisions as well as regulatory actions in the
healthcare industry are among the most debated issues of recent years.

According
to the World Health Organization, health is defined not only as illness or
disability, but, as physical, mental and social well-being. That is, in order
to be able to talk about healthy body, we need to have a healthy mind and mood
besides lack of a physical problem (Başol and Işık, 2015.)

The aim
of this study is to examine the level of knowledge, usage and awareness about the
perception of health services, patient rights and responsibilities from the
perspective of those who benefit from the services provided by health
institutions in Turkey. Along with this aim, we also wanted to gather
information about attitudes and behaviors and satisfaction levels of patients
and their companions benefitting from the health services. In this context,
healthcare planning activities play an important role in health services. The
most important purpose of healthcare services is to improve and protect the
health of the society. Health institutions need to provide patient satisfaction
to a broad and heterogeneous group of people in the context of health care
recipients. The issue of “patients’ rights and responsibilities” has become
more critical in this respect. Today, in developed countries, the quality of
health services is increased by the awareness of individual rights and
responsibilities as both patients and service providers and behaving
accordingly. This has resulted in a positive relationship between the patients
and health professionals, hence leading to solutions for any kind of problems
that might arise in due course (Saruç, 2007: 2).

Patient
right is a reflection of human rights on health services. The aim of Patient
Rights is to protect the integrity and reputation of the patient due to being a
mere human, to emphasize the basic human rights in health services, to help
people to benefit fully from health services, to minimize the impact of
systemic problems, to reinforce the relationship between patients and health
personnel and to actively participate in the treatment process of patients as
well as to encourage, to prevent and reduce errors arising from professional
practices (http://www.istanbulsaglik.gov.tr/w/sb/duyurular/belge/av_ahsen_dinc_saglik_huhuk_hasta_hak_02072017.pdf).

In the
context of the research, a survey was conducted in Sakarya and İstanbul in June-July
2019. The field study was conducted on 200 participants on a voluntary basis
selected through convenience sampling. In the formation of data collection
instrument, the questionnaire, we have conducted several interviews with a
number of experts as well as people who are the target audience of healthcare
services. Following three pilot studies, the final draft of the survey
instrument was finalized.

For the
participants, 55% of them were men, 45% were women and 55% were married. 50%
are between 18 and 33 years old, and 20.5% are 50 years and older. In terms of
occupational status, the participants were mainly students, lecturers, civil
servants and workers. In terms of education, it is seen that approximately half
of the participants have university level and above, and nearly 40% have a
university degree. In terms of income, half of the participants had an income
of 0-4000 TL and half of them were in the range of 4001-8000 TL. In terms of
insurance coverage, of the 85% were covered by the SGK (Social Security
Department) and only a small fraction had a private health insurance. In terms
of experience, one forth have visited a health institution in the last 15 days,
1/4 have visited during the last one months and 17% of the participants have
visited a health institution in the last 2 months.

Of those
participated to the study have indicated that they had experienced a problem
with a hospital or a health organization. In order to seek redress or solve
their problems, participants tend to complain mostly to the patients’ right
department, CİMER (Presidential Communication Center for putting
complaints by public), hospital administration, family physician, health
director and ALO184, respectively. The most important reason for the hospital
preference of the participants is the competence of the physician, and followed
by satisfaction with the physician and ease of making an appointment with the
physician. On the other hand, the most important problem experienced by the
participants in health institutions today is the indifference and lack of
responsiveness of physicians. Long waiting times and insufficient number of
health workers are followed.

Findings of
factor analysis indicated the existence of four factors affecting participants’
attitudes towards and perceptions of health institutions. These dimensions were
named as “quality sensitivity in health institutions”, “apathy of health
workers”, “patients rights awareness level” and “rude and disrespectful patient
behaviors”.

Also findings
indicate that despite the existence of legal regulations on patient rights in
our country, it is seen that these rights are not known sufficiently by health
workers and patients. Most patients do not know where to go about the problems
they face and they find it difficult to find someone to take care of and
sometimes may suffer from insensitive behaviors from the hospital staff. On the
other hand, patients should fulfill their responsibilities when receiving
services from the health care facility. Patients and their companions may sometimes
display rude and disrespectful behaviors towards health workers. Furthermore,
some patients think their problem is the most important and urgent one compared
to other patients’ problems, and may behave rudely and disrespectfully towards
other patients.

As for
conclusion, it is important for health professionals and all patients to have
information about the existing documents, legal regulations and practices, and
to increase the awareness of the society and health professionals on this issue
in order to increase the level of knowledge and practice in patient rights and
to provide better quality health services. This awareness will contribute to
reducing legal problems and the severity of health workers. Improving the
continuity of health education by improving the knowledge level of health
workers and patients about patient rights and responsibilities will contribute
to the process.