Evaluation of Patients' Satisfaction with Services Accessed under the National Health Insurance Scheme at a Tertiary Health Facility in North Central, Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: The evaluation of patient satisfaction provides an indicator of quality of care and contributes to strategies towards improvement of healthcare delivery.
Objective: To assess patient satisfaction with services accessed under the National Health Insurance Scheme at a tertiary health facility in North central, Nigeria.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study with a sample size of 421 NHIS enrollees between ages 18 to 60 years was done from December 2015 to January 2016 at Federal Medical-Centre, Keffi, Nasarawa-State, Nigeria. Patients were selected by Systematic random sampling. Data was collected using pretested, anonymous, self-administered, structured questionnaires, with each satisfaction area scored in a five-point Likert scale ordinal response. The dimensions of health services evaluated were based on the typical
complaints received from NHIS enrollees such as; hospital accessibility, reception and patient registration process, waiting time, doctors' consultations, availability of prescribed drugs, hospital staff attitudes and hospital facilities. Analysis was done using EPI INFO version 3.5.4.
Results: The overall average satisfaction score was 63.1%. The respondents expressed satisfaction with various aspects of services; reception/registration (65.3%), waiting time (57.4%), doctors' consultation (70.5%), prescribed drugs (55.3%), laboratory services (71.6%), condition of hospital facilities (60.3%) and staff attitude (61.0%).
Conclusion: This study showed that the overall patients' satisfaction with services accessed was good. However, there is the need for the NHIS and healthcare facilities to continuously improve on the provision of healthcare services and address areas of dissatisfaction.