Non-Clinical Quality of Care in Teaching Hospitals: Responsiveness Level and Relative Importance of Different Domains

Considering the scope of tasks and the role of teaching hospitals in the promotion of population health, it is important to consider their responsiveness as one of the three goals of health system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level and relative importance of responsiveness domains in teaching hospitals from the viewpoint of households living in selected areas of Mashhad.
In this cross-sectional study, a valid questionnaire designed by World Health Organization (WHO) was used. From among the households of two selected areas of Mashhad, 561 families that had the background of referring to teaching hospitals were selected via multi-stage sampling. Based on WHO pattern, descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.
About 50 percent of the respondents expressed the level of responsiveness as good and very good. Information confidentiality domain and the quality of amenities got the highest and lowest ranks from the respondents’ viewpoint, respectively. The highest and lowest importance belonged to the domains of quality care facilities and family and social support, respectively.
Considering the relatively low responsiveness of different domains and also the existing gap between families’ priorities and performance of teaching hospitals, it seems necessary that policymakers pay more attention to patients’ priorities such as the quality of care facilities and the creation of appropriate educational content related to medical students. Also, periodic evaluation of responsiveness can be useful in promoting the responsiveness of teaching hospitals.