Evaluation of senior citizens' satisfaction in primary health centres as assessment of the academic model.

CONTEXT: Satisfaction is nowadays a valid measure of quality of care. Senior citizens are increasing in Chile and their treatment in primary care clinics, as well as the education of new professionals must take into consideration their special characteristics. GOAL: Our intention was to investigate the degree of satisfaction senior citizens had with their health service and to identify those aspects able to be modified at the Medical Faculty in order to improve education of health professionals. APPROACH: Three hundred elderly attending Primary Care Outpatient Clinics of the city of Temuco, Chile, were interviewed using a satisfaction questionnaire developed by the Medical Outcomes Study carried out in USA. FINDINGS: Senior citizens experience a high level on dissatisfaction with the health care they receive at the primary level. Doctors and nurses had a high qualification in relation to their technical skills, but a lower score if considering the education and information they give to patients. These results shall be used in order to modify attention to senior citizens as well as to include problems related to this group in the curricular reform plan and to improve attitudes of nursing and medical students.