Quality of Health Care Services of Emergency Departments Between Public and Private Sectors from The Patients’ Companions Experiences

Background: People frequently choose private hospitals despite public healthcare services are provided free of charge in the Kurdistan Region. We assessed quality of health services of emergency departments (EDs) between public and private sectors. Methods: In this comparative cross-sectional study, individuals who received health services from either public or private ED in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were personally invited. Results: Most of the admitted patients in both private and public EDs were in the middle age group, female and were from urban areas. A greater proportion of government employees sought care at public EDs (20.0%) than at private ones. A considerable percentage of patients did not trust the competence of medical staff in both public and private ED. But a lower percentage of trust was found in the public ED (35.67% vs. 53.67%; P<0.0001, respectively) compared to the patients in the private ED. The patients in the private ED significantly received great attention from the medical staff, were taken seriously by the medical staff, the medical staff listened to their medical conditions, the patients had better clarity of explanations of the results of examinations. Also, the private ED had better state of seriously taken by medical staff, hygiene, and care rapidity, assessment, and clarity of explanations of the health problem. However, the private ED had worse condition about the information by medical staff on readmission in case of health problems. Conclusion: This study indicated that the private EDs provide higher quality services across various aspects compared to public EDs.