An epidemiological study on assessing patients' satisfaction with services obtained from Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata

ABSTRACT

Background: Patient satisfaction has been defined as the degree of congruency between a patient’s expectations of ideal care and his/her perception of the real care he receives. It is a multidimensional aspect, represents a vital key marker for the quality of health care delivery and this is an internationally accepted factor which needs to be studied repeatedly for smooth functioning of the health care systems. It has been an important issue for health care managers. Patient satisfaction level is an important and useful indicator for measuring quality in healthcare. Aims and Objectives: This study was planned to assess patient satisfaction with services provided in the study area and to find out whether there is any association between the socio-demographic characters with the satisfaction level from the services provided. Materials and Methods: The study is an observational, descriptive study with cross-sectional study design. An exit interview of 162 adult patients, selected by convenience sampling attending various out-patient department of medical college, Kolkata was conducted over a period of 2 months; using a pre-designed pre-tested semi-structured data collection form. Statistical analyses were done using Chi-square tests, at P ? 0.05 level of significance. Results: The study highlighted that majority (60.5%) of the study participants belonged to 31–60 years age group. It was also noted that majority of the patients were satisfied with overall services available except for ventilation and toilet facilities. Lower educated participants were satisfied with overall behavior of the healthcare providers. Rural participants and those from lower socio-economic status were satisfied with overall availability of general basic facilities. Lower educated participants were less satisfied with overall satisfaction level at various service windows. Gainfully employed participants were satisfied compared to unemployed participants. There was a statistically significant association between the education status and occupation of the study subjects with overall satisfaction level at various service windows. It was found that lower educated participants were less satisfied with overall satisfaction level at various service windows, compared to higher educated participants (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The present study revealed that majority of the patients were satisfied with the overall services provided at medical college, Kolkata.