Quality of Health Care in Resource Limited Settings-Patients’ Satisfaction Survey at a Mission Hospital in South East, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Quality healthcare is a major contributor to health disparities and inequalities in resource limited settings. Patient satisfaction remains an important and valuable method of assessing the quality of care. Aim: This study assessed patients’ satisfaction with quality of inpatient clinical care in a mission hospital in a semi urban setting. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study carried out on 140 inpatients at a mission hospital in Afikpo, South East Nigeria. Data was collected using pretested structured questionnaires designed on a five-point likert scale with 1 indicating the lowest and 5 indicating the highest scale. Knowledge of factors contributing to quality of care and satisfaction in the following domains: patient-staff relationship, patient-staff (doctors/nurses) communication, facility convenience, technical aspect of care (availability of equipment, drugs and adequacy of staff) and overall general satisfaction were measured. Operationally, patients who rated 3 points and above were considered satisfied while ratings less than 3 points were considered dissatisfied. Results: Knowledge of factors contributing to quality of care was 4.65 ± 0.48. General satisfaction rated 4.22 ± 0.52. Specifically, the different domains had the following scores: inter personal relationship 4.28 ± 0.81, technical aspect of care (availability of drugs, equipment and medical personnel) 4.29 ± 0.57 and facility convenience 4.21 ± 0.51. Conclusions: Knowledge of factors contributing to quality of care and overall patients’ satisfaction with inpatient care were good and comparable with patients’ satisfaction with tertiary health institutions in Nigeria. Mission hospitals may serve as excellent alternatives to government hospitals in resource limited settings to promote health equity across populations.