Post-visit at ophthalmology emergency service: frequency and perception of the doctors on duty and users.

PURPOSE To check the occurrence of post-visit, the patient's understanding and the assessments of the doctor on duty about the efficacy of the process, at the ophthalmology emergency sector. METHODS It was conducted a transversal, analytical research among doctors on duty and patients being seen consecutively in the ophthalmology emergency sector of Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo. RESULTS The sample was made of 28 doctors on duty and 561 patients, 51.3% male and 48.7% female, with a mean age of 39.8 years old. From 34.1% of the patients who were previously seen by other sectors, 8.4% looked for two services and 5.7% three or more services. In the previous visits, 56.9% of the patients mentioned that they did not receive any explanation about their diagnostic. From the patients seen at Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - FMUSP, 95.1% mentioned that the ophthalmologists explained the diagnostic and from those 84.0% understood what was explained. Among 40.4% of the patients who received medicine prescriptions in the previous services, 85.5% mentioned that they received explanation about its use and 82.9% followed the orientation. At Hospital das Clínicas - FMUSP 95.0% of the patients understood how and why to use the medicine. At the ophthalmologists point of view, more than 90.0% of the patients understood the diagnostic and the prescribed treatment. CONCLUSION According to this research, for most of the patients, it was provided post-visit orientation and patients' understanding about the disease and the treatments proposed.