Patient Satisfaction At Tertiary Care Hospitals In Kashmir: A Study From The Lala Ded Hospital Kashmir India
W Qureshi, G Naikoo, A Baba, F Jan, N Wani, G Hassan, N Khan
Keywords
administration, medicare, questionnaire, ratification
Citation
W Qureshi, G Naikoo, A Baba, F Jan, N Wani, G Hassan, N Khan. Patient Satisfaction At Tertiary Care Hospitals In Kashmir: A Study From The Lala Ded Hospital Kashmir India. The Internet Journal of Health. 2008 Volume 8 Number 2.
Abstract
A brief study of patient and attendant satisfaction was done at the Lal Ded Hospital Srinagar. This biggest (500 bedded) maternity hospital of the valley is associated with Government Medical College Srinagar. This questionnaire was given to each admitted patient/ attendant randomly in various sections of the hospital and comments noted.
After thorough analysis the aggregate score of the questionnaire regarding patient satisfaction was; 72% patients considered the services at Lal Ded Hospital as good while as 8.3% average and 19.7% were poorly satisfied or not satisfied with the hospital services. The study gives us some insight into the services available and suggestions for further improvement in the medicare.
Introduction
The primary goal of the tertiary care hospital is to provide best possible health care to the patients. The modern era where it is the right of every patient to demand best possible care in Government hospitals, it is the duty of every staff member of the hospital to deliver his optimum efforts to the entire satisfaction of the patient1 and its assessment will give us an opportunity to find loopholes in our services and future ratification. It is the nature of a human being that by fulfilling one motive, another one takes the place which is to be fulfilled and the process goes on2.
To find the magnitude of satisfaction amongst patients at Lal Ded Hospital, formed the basis of the present study.
Material And Methods
As such there are no set parameters by which we can assess the quality medical service in a hospital, therefore many arbitrary patient satisfaction parameters have been put forth which gives us rough idea about the quality of services3 and can be used for improvement of loopholes pointed by patients and their wards in the hospital during their stay4
A study with this background was conducted at the L.D Hospital Srinagar, an associated hospital of Govt. Medical College Srinagar, involving 200 patients with gynecological and obstetrical ailments. A questionnaire was formed and questions were asked from patients and attendants accordingly. The questionnaire contained information regarding biodata of patients and services provided to them in the hospital. The data collected was analyzed by statistician and inferences drawn.
The observations in the study were noted and the outcome related to the quality care were inferred as the credit points as ,” Number of lives saved, number of patients recovered and rehabilitated.” Debit points were deaths, complications due to drugs or procedural errors and hospital infections etc5
The Lal Ded Hospital is the biggest maternity hospital of our valley with a total bed strength of 500 beds. The number of out patient department OPD patients is roughly 350- 400 per day with about 250 obstetric and 150 Gynecological patients. About 115 patients are admitted in Indoor Patients Department (IPD) daily with about 80 obstetric and 35 gynecological ailment cases. The hospital performs 45 major and 30 minor surgeries per day. About 20 normal deliveries and 40-45 lower segments caesarian sections are performed daily. The hospital has a good laboratory back up well established Radiology department, Laundry CSSD and Blood Bank.
The opinion of 1000 patients was noted as per the questionnaire schedule and the response was categorized as poor, average and excellent.
Results And Conclusion
With the necessary inputs from the patients and the attendants by pointing various drawbacks or deficiencies should always be taken care of by the hospital administration, that will turn into a good result of improvement in the hospital services to the satisfaction of the patients.6,7
The biggest factor in this study was lack of communication between the doctor and the patients, if this gap is bridged the patients as well as attendants change their perception all together about the hospital services. This is an important factor that doctors communicate properly with the patients to explain to them their ailments and the steps to be taken to mitigate their sufferings8
About 820 patients (82 %) patients were satisfied with the admission and Registration procedures,80 patients(8% )gave less average score and 100 patients ( 10%) described the process as poor. About 720 patients ( 70 %) patients in the ward described services good and 83 patients (8.3%) described it as average and 197 patents (19.7%) described poor services in the wards.
About labor room services, 40% patients described it as good, 30% average, and 30% patients as poor.
Item wise satisfaction score for patient's satisfaction of good category regarding attending doctors (50%), followed by 31% about quality nursing care and 13% regarding quality laboratory work.
80% of patients preferred to suggest this hospital to friends and relations and future consultations. Majority of patients suggested free life saving medicines from hospital. Most of the patients and attendants suggested regular vigilance of the hospital administration to look over the work of paramedical staff especially sanitation and hospital cleanliness. Besides giving patient hearing to complaints and suggestions for implementation of Medicare in the hospital