The Quality of Medical Consultations in a Teaching Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study
Background and objectives: Medical consultations became undeniable elements for the quality of health care and training of medical residence. This study aimed to assess the quality of performed consultations. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study at Shohadaye Tajrish hospital, affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, Iran between 20th April 2018 and 4th May 2019. The reported items and quality score of medical consultation requests and responses between emergency and non-emergency consultations and between the faculty members and medical residents were assessed by SPSS version 21.0. Results: Among 431 medical consultations, most were non-emergency, requested by residents, and responded to by faculty members. The quality of consultations requested (p < 0.001) or responded (p < 0.001) by faculty members was higher than by medical residents. Higher year residents performed higher quality consultation requests (p = 0.008) and responses (p < 0.001). The quality score of consultation requests (p = 0.51) and responses (p = 0.1) had no significant difference between types of consultation. Conclusion: Underreported items of consultation impressed its quality. Faculty members and higher-year residents performed higher quality consultations.