Table 1.

Perceptions of risks of patient safety in outpatient care

Category	Perceptions of health providers	Perceptions of patients
Characteristics of outpatient care delivery system	Multiple service providers; multiple processes; intermittent contacts; multiple problems; patients can walk away anytime	No idea how the system works
Working/service environment	No continuing patient–provider relationship; no complete medical records; not sharing information; lack of interprofessional communication; not enough time; no medication supervision; excessive policy intervention; understaffing; seriously overloaded; high stress level	Insecure; crowded; scared of being infected
Provider–patient communication	Patients do not disclose essential information; poor literacy of patients; no patient identification system; forged identification; patients talk too much but do not get to point; wrong information shared between patients; waste of time; patients not reasonable; patients too demanding; patients not understanding; patients have too high expectation	Doctors show impatience; doctors do not ask; doctors do not listen; patients being seen as making trouble; no chance to ask questions; being deterred from arguing for our own interest
Decision-making by providers	Poor knowledge; lack of experience; one-off contact	Over-service for profit; without thinking about how expensive; without thinking about adverse effects; depend on machines; over-prescribe; do not care about things beyond their specialty; money grab machine
Decision-making by patients	Do not read medication instructions; depend on unreliable information; negative influence from other patients; demand immediate solution; seek second opinion; use one doctor to argue against another	Follow instructions from doctors; self-protection; always being passive; trust public media; seek advice from fellow patients; do not know how to choose; prefer to have same doctor