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Identifier

000457554

Title

Εγγραμματοσύνη υγείας και χρήση υπηρεσιών μεταξύ των επισκεπτών του Τμήματος Επειγόντων Περιστατικών του νοσοκομείου Ρεθύμνης : μελέτη μικτής μεθοδολογίας

Alternative Title

Health literacy and service utilization among patients visiting the emergency department of Rethymno General Hospital

Author

Αλεξάκη, Ευαγγελία

Thesis advisor

Αναστασάκη, Μαριλένα
Λιονής, Χρήστος
Αλμπάνη, Ελένη

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate the levels of health literacy and to assess the use of health services among patients visiting the Emergency Department of the public hospital of Rethymno, Crete. Materials and methods In this thesis, a mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative data) synchronic study was conducted using a questionnaire and interview guide. The sample of the study consisted of 150 patients who were in the ED waiting to be examined by a physician. The short modified Greek version of the weighted European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire 16 (HLS-EU-Q16) was used for data collection. Information on the socio-demographic characteristics and medical history of the participants was also collected. The reasons for visiting the ED (ICD-10), as well as visits that could have been avoided and managed at the primary health care level (clinical assessment by the health professional examining the patient) were recorded. The data analysis of this study was performed using SPSS software (IBM Corp. Released 2019, IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, v.26 .0). As part of the qualitative research, individual interviews were conducted with 5 people from those who completed the questionnaire. The purpose of the qualitative survey was to collect in-depth information on the reasons for visiting the ED and the general use of health services by the participants. Results Overall, more than 50% of the sample who visited the ED had infection problems (fever, upper respiratory tract infection). 61.3% [92/150] of the cases (in the judgement of the doctors) required management in a primary structure such as a TUMS or health centre. During statistical analysis, a correlation was observed between health literacy and visits that were urgent, a statistically significant association was demonstrated between individuals with adequate health literacy that they made mostly urgent visits to the ED. [p-value:0.044] Also, people with deficient health literacy made visits to the emergency department mainly on holidays (Saturday, Sunday and national holidays)[p-value:0.003] After the analysis of the interviews it became clear that participants used the ED because of the comprehensive care it offers, because of its opening hours and ease of access not because of emergency. Conclusions In this study it appeared that despite a high proportion of participants with a satisfactory level of health literacy, high rates of visits were found to be non-urgent and were considered avoidable. More research is needed to overcome the limitations of the study and further investigate the reasons for this phenomenon. In any case, the need to inform the public about PHC and to upgrade its services seems to be important messages from this study

Language

Greek

Subject

Primare health care

Πρωτοβάθμια φροντίδα υγείας

Issue date

2023-07-28

Collection

School/Department--School of Medicine--Department of Medicine--Post-graduate theses

Type of Work--Post-graduate theses

Permanent Link

https://elocus.lib.uoc.gr//dlib/3/f/9/metadata-dlib-1690789586-409535-32371.tkl