ABSTRACT
Objectives: To study family satisfaction of medical care to geriatric patients and to find out any difference in family satisfaction given by geriatric specialist and general medicine specialist. Indian data on family’s perception of geriatric care is lacking. Materials and methods: All geriatric patients who were admitted between March 2015 and September 2015 in medical wards and where hospital stay was more than 3 days were included. An internationally validated family satisfaction questionnaire was used and administered to family member of each patient admitted. Scores were graded on Likert scale under five important areas like staff interaction, support services, quality of medical care, medical communication, and facilities. Special comments were analyzed separately. Results: Patients’ family members were most satisfied with quality of medical care and facilities (95%), followed by staff interaction and support facilities. Satisfaction regarding medical communication and services was poor (60%). There was no significant difference for satisfaction/perception of quality of care given by geriatric specialist and general medicine specialist. Conclusion: Medical communication and support services of long-term care of geriatric patients are an important area of improvement. Family perception of geriatric care is vital to overall delivery of health care to this vulnerable group of patients. Support facilities specifically designed for geriatric patients need to be strengthened. There was no significant difference in perception of care offered by geriatric specialist and general medicine specialist.