Surgical in- Patient Satisfaction with Services Rendered in a Tertiary Health Facility in Delta State, Nigeria

Objective: To explore factors determining the level of satisfaction of surgical in-patients with services rendered at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, Delta State, Nigeria.

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 115 adult surgical in-patients using an interviewer administered structured questionnaire (Patient Satistaction Questionnaire Short Form-PSQ-18). Data analysis was done using SPSS version 17 software.

Results: A hundred and fifteen respondents participated in this survey. The mean age of respondents was 40.9 ±16.0 years. Most respondents were male 62 (53.9%). Average overall satisfaction was 63.1%. Of the seven dimensions of patient satisfaction among respondents, financial sub-scale and time spent seeing doctor had the lowest satisfaction ratings of 30.4% and 47% respectively. Technical quality of care (82.6%) was one of the sub-scales patients were most satisfied with. It was observed that it was only with regards to the dimensions of satisfaction with communication, interpersonal aspect of care and satisfaction with access to care that any socio-demographic characteristic showed a significant association with the patient satisfaction.

Conclusion: Although, many surgical in-patients were satisfied with the technical quality of care and interpersonal relationship with doctors, most of them find it difficult to pay hospital fees and feel they spend too much time in the process of seeing doctors and accessing other services. There is need for a possible downward review of our fees and efforts geared at shortening waiting time.