Evaluation Of Patient Satisfaction With The Radiological Services In UCTH, Calabar.

Abstract

Background: In contemporary health care service delivery, patient satisfaction is utmost in regulating the policies that are reflected in the everyday activity of the hospital. Radiology department has a nexus with virtually every other Departments in the hospital and the role it plays in molding the level of patient satisfaction of services is quite significant due to the accompanying influx of patients. It is therefore, important to get feed-back from these patients on the aspects of the services rendered in all the Radiologic units that are not satisfactory. The aim of this study is to evaluate patient satisfaction with the Radiological services provided in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.

Material and Methods: This was a prospective cross sectional observational study conducted over a  period of one month in the Radiology Department of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria that involved 306 patients. Relevant questions covering the major arcas of patient satisfaction with Radiological services were presented to each participant by use of a pre-tested Questionnaire. SPSS version 23.0 was used to analyze the data and Chi-square tests were done. Ethical approval was obtained for this study.

Results: The mean patient satisfaction was 94.8%. The patient satisfaction of the services rendered in the Radiology department was significantly associated with patient waiting time (P 0.009), patient age (P 0.000) and employment status (P 0.011). Patient waiting time between 5 to 60 minutes produced more satisfaction in participants (41.67%). Patient satisfaction was high in the unemployed (90.91%) and individuals aged below 40 years (93.61%).

Conclusion: The patient satisfaction with the Radiological services provided in UCTH, Calabar is high. The level of patient satisfaction is associated with a patient waiting time less than one hour, age lower than 40 years and an unemployed status of the patient who receives Radiological services. The quality of the waiting area and health provider-patient interactions contribute to the degree of patient satisfaction.