Evaluating Patients’ Level of Satisfaction on the Quality of Health Services in Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti Nigeria
Esther Abosede Bamise *
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Nigeria.
Alaba Tolulope Agbele
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Nigeria.
Cecilia Olajumoke Adebayo
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: To evaluate patients’ level of satisfaction on the quality of healthcare received by focusing on waiting time due to its level of importance. Studies have shown that a good healthcare system contributes immensely to the growth of a thriving economy, because patients’ satisfaction is the major indicator of quality healthcare.
Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed by using a structured questionnaire coupled with interview session. These was considered appropriate for data gathering in the overall outpatient department (OPD) of the health facility.
Methods: The present study evaluates patients’ satisfaction level on the QoS in Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Nigeria; by focusing majorly on waiting time. Systematic random sampling technique was used in selecting the participants for this research, with 241 patients’ data collected. Convenience, courtesy and quality of care were used as factors to measure patients’ satisfactions.
Results: Findings from this study showed that 73.03% of the patients were satisfied with the level of services in terms of conveniences, while 80.50% of the patients were highly satisfied as regards the courtesy level, also, 77.59% of the patients were satisfied with the quality of care received at the facility. Furthermore, our result indicates that a total of 154 (63.9%) of the patients were greatly satisfied with the quality of health services received in EKSUTH, however, 87 which represents 36.1% of patients were not satisfied with the level of services rendered at the facility.
Conclusion: The respondents showed high satisfaction level in most of the services they received from EKSUTH, however, long waiting time in the health facility has shown to be an impediment to the satisfaction level as well as the quality of care (QoC) received. Therefore, improved services; especially reducing the long waiting time will motivate patients to continue to utilize EKSUTH. More so, continuous efforts should be made by the hospital’s administration to improve other areas where satisfaction level was shown to be low in the present study.
Keywords: Evaluation, patient satisfaction, waiting time, quality, health services.