Publication:

Patient satisfaction in health care facility in hilly areas of Uttarakhand

Background Patient satisfaction is a proxy indicator of the quality of doctor or hospital performance. The present study aimed at to assess the patient satisfaction in the outpatient department of rural and urban health training centre, Uttarakhand, North India.

Methods A hospital based cross sectional study. Simplified questionnaire was used for interviewing patients. For measurement of patient satisfaction in the outpatient department patient satisfaction questionnaire 18 was used with additional indices for nursing and paramedical staff.

Results A total of 200 patients participated in the study. Overall majority of them were females 112 (60%). Mean age of the patients was 40.4±19.5 years. Mean distance travelled to reach health facility was 13.5±21.6 km. The mean score for general satisfaction was 3.96±0.63, for financial aspects was 3.82±0.71, for accessibility and convenience was 3.81±0.65, for interpersonal manner of doctor 4.29±0.78, for communication of doctor 4.38±0.67, for technical quality was 4.05±0.58 and for time spent during the visit was 4.21±0.70. In the hierarchical stepwise multiple linear regression analysis the final model explained 85% of the variance in patient satisfaction.

Conclusions Overall, patients expressed satisfaction with the care provided. These ratings may reflect modest patients' expectations as well as acceptable circumstances and performance.