Level of patient’s satisfaction in gynaecological practice at a south west Nigerian specialist hospital

Abstract

The health sector occupies an enormously important position in ensuring sustainable overall socio-economic advancement in developing countries. Healthy people make a healthy nation and also contribute to economic growth. Satisfaction is the contentment one feels when one has fulfilled a desire, need, or expectation. Poor quality is costly -to clients, to programmes and to the society overall. People's perception about quality of care often determines whether they seek and continue to use services. This study evaluated the level of patient's satisfaction in gynaecological practice at the state specialist hospital Akure. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Questionnaires of the Likert-like form was used to obtain information from consenting patients on various factors that determines or have effect on their level of satisfaction while accessing gynaecological care services at the gynaecology clinic of State Specialist Hospital, Akure. Systematic sampling method was used to recruit patients by selecting every second patient serially as they present. Three hundred and eight consenting gynaecological patients were recruited into the study. Data was analysed with the Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) 20.0. Majority of the respondents 295 (95.7%) were satisfied with the morning time clinic schedule. More percentage of respondents were very satisfied with attending doctor being male (52.9%) than if the attending doctor was female (26.3%). Most patients (53.3%) were not satisfied with having to go outside the hospital to get some of their investigations done. Most patients (44.6%) were not satisfied with the level of availability of drugs in the hospital as they still go out to buy drugs. Vast majority of the respondents (89.2%) were either satisfied or very satisfied with the behavior and competence of the attending doctors and nurses. In conclusion, client's satisfaction is reflected by their happy expression about the care they receive, where and how they access the care. There is need for health care givers to continue and improve on aspects of care that gives patients satisfaction and discourage those that make the patients dissatisfied.

Patients’ Perception of the Quality of Gynecological Services in a Tertiary Public Health Facility in Lagos, Nigeria

“…Respondents' mean age was 37.8 ± 10.9 which is comparable to 40 ± 15.2 and 31.9 ± 12.0 reported in 2 public outpatient clinics of Lagos and Kano, respectively (7,15). The modal age group of 'below 36 years' compares well with that of another study from South-West Nigeria that specifically evaluated gynecological patients' perception of care (16).…”

“…The majority attends for infertility and tend to be married. Omotayo et al reported a similar pattern (16). Almost two-thirds (63.8%) had tertiary education.…”

“…A higher proportion of gynecological patients (95.7%) were satisfied with morning clinic sessions in Akure, Nigeria (16) while 94% of Lagos community members reported satisfaction with services received (18). Another study reported that 96.5% of pregnant women who received care at private and public health facilities within the 3 healthcare levels were satisfied with the care received (21).…”

“…Assessment of gynecological services is particularly important because women constitute a vulnerable group that requires satisfactory services for the continued patronage of health care facilities. Factors such as gender of service provider and privacy among others have been reported to affect patients' level of satisfaction with gynecological services (16).…”

The relationship between patients’ perception of nursing care and nursing attitudes towards patient privacy in gynecology clinics

“…5 Therefore, nurses play a very important role in increasing patients' satisfaction from hospitalization to discharge. 6,7 Studies report a positive relationship between patient satisfaction and nursing care quality. [8][9][10] Satisfying patients' privacy expectations and informing them in this regard is an important factor for increasing patient satisfaction with healthcare services and, therefore, the quality of services provided.…”