Physician satisfaction and utilization about urgent care management pathways in primary health care

Abstract

Background: Emergency departments are the front lines of health-care systems, and they play a vital role in providing patients with efficient and high-quality care. Increased demand for emergency care, on the other hand, may diminish patient satisfaction (due to longer wait times), increase health-care professional burden, and negatively impact service quality. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh (PSMMC), data were collected from physicians (Consultant, Senior, Registrars and General Practitioners) who work in urgent care centres at PSMMC to measure the primary health care (PHC) physicians’ satisfaction and utilization of urgent care management pathways. Results: About 29 physicians who work in the centre were participated in this study, of whom 52% were male, 48% were female, majority of physicians were Saudi (83%), while non Saudi physicians were (17%) only; Overall level of satisfaction of physicians regarding to urgent care management pathways was 73%. The study also shown found that level of physicians satisfaction towards administration staff, equipment and facilities was 71%, and finally most of physicians (93%) highly recommended their other colleagues to use this centre as referral centre. Conclusion: Critical pathway recommendations have emerged as one of the most prominent new efforts aimed to cut costs while preserving or even improving the quality of care in an era of increased competition in medical care.