Patients’ Satisfaction with Quality of Care in General Hospitals in Ebonyi State

Abstract

The provision of quality health services is indispensable, yet health care delivery system in Nigeria is characterized with the problems of the quality of care and accessibility to care. Patient satisfaction is an essential parameter in the assessment of quality of care and health care facility performance. There is dearth of data on a holistic patients’ satisfaction at health facilities in Ebonyi state. Thus, the study investigated patients’ satisfaction with quality of care in General hospitals in Ebonyi state, South East, Nigeria. Cross sectional descriptive study design was employed. Data were collected using 32-item structured and open-ended patients’ satisfaction questionnaire. Four hundred patients (18 years and above) in general hospitals were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. The analysis was done using mean score ( x ), standard deviation, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results showed that most patients were satisfied with time spent to reach the hospital, hospital location, cost of service, waiting time, communication with staff and competency of staff while most patients were dissatisfied with the means of transportation to the hospital. Socio-demographic characteristic such as gender and occupation were significant to patients’ satisfaction. Thus, the study recommended the need for continuous evaluation of service through bi-annual surveys and further studies on in-patients’ satisfaction.