Patient satisfaction with health care services: a case study of the federal medical centre, Makurdi, north central Nigeria.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are various factors which influence patient satisfaction with healthcare services as documented in the literature but a knowledge gap exists in the study area regarding this. Hence this study tried to determine these factors and how they affect patient satisfaction and to generate policy relevant information that will aid the improvement of healthcare services delivery.
METHODS: A total of 142 subjects were recruited for the study. Socio-demographic interview schedule was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics of subjects. The client satisfaction questionnaire [CSQ] was used to assess level of patient satisfaction.
RESULTS: The study identified waiting time, time spent with doctors during consultation as influencing the level of patient satisfaction with healthcare services. Other factors that influence the level of satisfaction include the nature of patients’ illness and patient perception of the hospital environment. Of the two-time based measures, time spent with the doctors during consultation is the most powerful determinant of the overall patient satisfaction. However, combination of long waiting times and short consultation times produced the lowest level of patient satisfaction and suggests that both measures are important.
CONCLUSION: The more information the physician provides to the patient the greater the satisfaction. The more the patient perceives the hospital as being neat the higher the level of satisfaction they derive from the services they receive.

Key words: Patient satisfaction, patient perception, waiting time, consultation time