REFUSAL OF TREATMENT PLANNED FOR THE PATIENT: A RESEARCH ON THE EMERGENCY SERVICES PATIENTS

The aim of this research is to determine the reasons of why the patients refuse the treatment and their satisfactions after the examination in the emergency room and reveal thoughts about the refusal of treatment. The research was carried out at the Kocaeli University Hospital’s emergency department. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study, study group was consisted of the patients who declined treatment after going to the emergency department between the dates of 1st of March 2014–15th of May 2014. No sample was chosen for the research and 135 patients were included who accepted to participate in the research, 66.8% of the research area was reached. 4.4% of the patients had red triage code; 51.9% of them refusal of treatment between the hours of 16.00–24.00 and 97.8% of patients is registered to Social Security Institution. 26.4% of them refusal of treatment as it required a long follow-up period, 14.7% declined as they felt themselves better after the treatment and 9.2% of them refused it as they were scared. It was stated that the patients who refuse of treatment were not in clinically very urgent. Accordingly, it can be suggested to increase the knowledge level of patient and also it can be suggested to raise awareness of a wide audience through the media and with the closed-circuit TV broadcast. Forming of patient post-refusal of treatment follow-up system may be effective to understand the treatment refuse reasons better.