INVESTIGATION OF PATIENTS’ PERSPECTIVES ABOUT PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES

This study is a descriptive study planned to determine the functioning of the public relations activities of a public hospital operating in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the perspective of the public towards this subject, to emphasize the functions and importance of the public relations activities, to bring insight into the opinions of the patients towards the health professionals and to make recommendations on this subject. Approximately 150 patients consult to the hospital in a week and 99 patients were interested in participating in a survey designed for this study. Data collection process included the survey developed by Bahadır (2010). The first contact of the patients is the patient admission unit staff by 56.6%, while the patients reported that physicians are the hospital personnel which they are able to communicate with more easily by 42.4%. 81.8% of the participants stated that they knew where to go when they had any problems in the hospital, 50.5% stated that they preferred to report their complaints to the head physician. 52.5% participants reported that they were very satisfied with the attitude of the patient admission personnel while 51.5% were satisfied with the information made available to them by the advisory guidance desk. As a result of the research, the patients were found to be generally satisfied with the hospital practices.