Determinants Of Patient Satisfaction With Health Care Services At Out Patient Department Of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: The main purpose of the study is to assess the determinants of patient satisfaction with health care services at outpatient department of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital The World Health Organization (2015) defines patient satisfaction as the interlinking relationship between perceived needs, patient expectations and experiences. Patient satisfaction, defined as patients‟ subjective feelings or evaluation of medical staff, their technical skills, environment, and all other healthcare services (Onwujekwe et al., 2010). Patient satisfaction is believed to be an important indicator of the quality of health and hospital services. With specific objective, To determine the level of patient satisfaction with health care service delivery at OPD clinics of GRRH. To determine the physical environment factors associated with patient satisfaction with health care service delivery at OPD clinics of GRRH. To examine the health worker factors associated with patient satisfaction with health care service delivery at OPD clinics of GRRH. To identify the hospital administration related factors associated with patient satisfaction with health care service delivery at OPD clinics of GRRH Method used: A descriptive and cross sectional study design that relied on quantitative methods of data collection. Cross sectional design was chosen because data on patients‟ satisfaction on OPD services was collected at one point in time due to the time constraint. Descriptive study design was suitable for giving a detailed view of the associations between variables and therefore informs decisions for further research. Results: Despite the fact that majority 194 (65.5%) of the respondents were females, 153 (51.7%) were between 18 to 25 years, 142 (47.9%) were singles, 139 (46.9%) had primary as their high level of education. The major form of occupation to most respondents was self employment and 102 (34.5%) had work experience below 5 years. It was found out that, 210 (71.0%) of the respondents were not satisfied with the health care services while 86 (29%) were satisfied with the health care services given. Also it was found out that most 117 (56%) of the respondents were most unsatisfied with the health workers while the least pressing problem was language barrier. And Where patients sleep and the presence of dustbins were the only physical and environmental factors that were not statistically significant, with p-values of 0.321 and 0.066 respectively All but except one of the health workers factors were statistically significant as per table of health worker associated factors. All the health facility factors had statistically significant relationship with patient satisfaction with health care service delivery. Conclusion: The level of satisfaction was 29% level of satisfaction, it was found out that, majority of the respondents were not satisfied with the health care services where they were mostly unsatisfied with the services of the health care providers. This implied that there was low satisfaction with the health care services due to a number of factors. The study assessed the patient related, health care worker related and health facility related factors associated with patient satisfaction with health care service delivery at OPD clinics of GRRH. The physical environment factors that were found to have a significant relationship with patients‟ satisfaction include; getting a seat whenever they visited the hospital, cleanliness of the hospital and availability of dustbins at the hospital. The health workers factors that were significantly associated with patients‟ satisfaction were; giving of enough information about illness, availability of health workers and having enough time with the health workers and attention to explain the problem The health facility of payment for health care services; availability of counseling services in the hospital, time of operative hours of the day and privacy(P=0.05) were significant associated with patients satisfaction