A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Systems Management (MHSM) of Mzumbe University
Patient satisfaction surveys are essential in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the patient’s need and their opinion of the service received. It is a vital tool in evaluating the quality of healthcare delivery service in hospital.
The current study is a descriptive case study research about factors influencing customers satisfaction with outpatient services of designated district hospital , Muleba, Kagera , Tanzania .Systemic sampling technique was employed , 125 respondents were subjected to close ended questionnaire, 20 respondents to self-administered questionnaire and five respondents were used as key informants. This study included the respondents who were 18 years old and above. The research tools were structured questionnaire; and documentary studies which enabled the collection of primary and secondary data. Data collection was conducted from February 19th, to March 5th, 2016. On this study what was studied on satisfaction were the socio- demographic characteristics’, the patients experience with outpatient services domains on different service domains in the hospital which included hospital milieu and service providers domain - accessibility to hospital services; service providers’ perception and patient satisfaction. The study examined the factors that influence satisfaction with outpatients’ services of DDH taking Rubya as a case study.
From this study it was found that 51.44 % of those who responded were found to be highly satisfied with hospital milieu and only 43% were satisfied with the way the service providers handled them (service Provider domain). It was found out 57.9 % which is the majority of the responded outpatients were lowly satisfied with accessibility to the health services. On the contrary the study shows that 70.6 % of the outpatients were impressed by the general cleanliness of the OPD. However, 61% and 52.4% of the respondents were lowly satisfied with the time they spent on waiting for services and the attitude of supporting staff respectively. When the patients were asked on how they felt comfortable at the reception hall the rate of satisfied outpatients who responded positively rose up to 57.8 %.
On provider domains the study found that the patients who were lowly satisfied were
65 % and 55.2 % with doctors’ and patients’ relationship and nurses’ attitudes respectively. On looking at the services offered by pharmacists also it was seen that high level of satisfaction as 56% of the patients experienced satisfaction. The study also showed that most of the respondents were less satisfied with registration service at 72%. Also, 53% of respondents showed that they were highly satisfied with the amount of medicines prescribed and the way the registering staff treated them .
Furthermore, basing on outpatients who responded to this questionnaire patients satisfaction as related to convenience the study found that it was rated high at 60.1%, courtesy at 48.7 % and quality of care at 49.6%.Long waiting time, inadequate communication between medical staff and patients were some of the factors highlighted for being at low satisfaction. Lack of adequate staff was identified as one of the main challenges for the RDDH not being able to meet patients’ expectations. Lack of staff also impeded medical staff from practicing “professionalism”.
Regarding socio-demographic characteristics, on education levels there were 12.8% with no education at all, 47.2% with none formal. 29.6% had education of primary and secondary levels were10.4%. College and above levels formed 12.8% of the study population. In general a researcher deductively found that education had relationship to ill health and better health as the more a person gets education the more one changes his/her consumption behavior of services and goods. This may lead to a person being easily scared by any dissatisfying element posed by the service providers at the first encounter.
Based on the findings of the study it can be concluded that the overall satisfaction of the patients in all domains at the OPD was low.
Furthermore, basing on the result of the study one can suggest the following: - Firstly, training of code of conduct and courtesy should be given to both clinical officers and other staffs. Secondly, incentives and punishments should be carried out based on regular performance reviews. And fourthly, it is also highly suggested that needed and adequate amount of medicine should be available in the Pharmacy. From these findings, it is evident that the satisfaction level of patients attending the outpatient department should be accessed periodically. Further satisfaction study should be extended in scope and reach other areas such as comparative study between patient satisfaction and staffs’ satisfaction and between the hospital services and other hospitals’ services etc. in order to gain better views of the field and produce more interesting result.