Quality improvement project to assess patient satisfaction towards outpatient services of a tertiary care teaching hospital, South India - A cross-sectional study.

Background: Patient satisfaction survey is a valuable tool to measure the outcomes of care rendered by hospitals. Outpatient department (OPD) is a very crucial area of any hospital services as huge number of patient's visits this area for clinical services. Information about quality of services in OPD will serve two purposes, i.e., identifying areas of improvement in the services offered and highlighting the need for corrective actions. Patient satisfaction is the key determinant for assessing the quality of patient care and is the desired outcome of every hospital. The present study was conducted to measure the levels of patient satisfaction and to ascertain any service gaps in OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital, Mysuru, India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 600 patients using a structured questionnaire for assessing the levels of patient satisfaction. Results: The overall satisfaction rate in this study was 97.2%, with major satisfiers being clinical care provided by doctors and nursing staffs and few patients were not satisfied with cleanliness of toilets and medications' availability. Conclusion: Patient satisfaction survey may be a good audit tool and it should be used to improve the standard of services. According to the patient's opinion, the study showed good satisfaction with respect to reception and registration services, physical facilities, doctor's services, nursing services, laboratory services, and pharmacy services. Few deficient areas are identified in terms of service delivery and the same will be bridged as early as possible to achieve universal patient satisfaction.

RésuméContexte: L'enquête sur la satisfaction des patients est un outil précieux pour mesurer les résultats des soins rendus par les hôpitaux. Le service ambulatoire (OPD) est un domaine très crucial de tous les services hospitaliers car un grand nombre de visites de patients dans ce domaine pour des services cliniques. Les informations sur la qualité des services dans OPD serviront à deux fins, à savoir l'identification des domaines d'amélioration des services offerts et la mise en évidence de la nécessité de mesures correctives. La satisfaction des patients est le principal déterminant pour évaluer la qualité des soins aux patients et est le résultat souhaité pour chaque hôpital. La présente étude a été menée pour mesurer les niveaux de satisfaction des patients et pour déterminer les éventuelles lacunes de service dans le DPO d'un hôpital d'enseignement de soins tertiaires, Mysuru, Inde. Matériel et méthodes: Cette étude descriptive transversale a été menée auprès de 600 patients à l'aide d'un questionnaire structuré pour évaluer les niveaux de satisfaction des patients. Résultats: Le taux de satisfaction global de cette étude était de 97,2%, les principaux éléments de satisfaction étant les soins cliniques fournis par les médecins et le personnel infirmier et peu de patients n'étaient pas satisfaits de la propreté des toilettes et de la disponibilité des médicaments. Conclusion: L'enquête sur la satisfaction des patients peut être un bon outil d'audit et elle devrait être utilisée pour améliorer la qualité des services. De l'avis du patient, l'étude a montré une bonne satisfaction en ce qui concerne les services d'accueil et d'inscription, les installations physiques, les services médicaux, les services infirmiers, les services de laboratoire et les services de pharmacie. Peu de domaines déficients sont identifiés en termes de prestation de services et les mêmes seront comblés le plus tôt possible pour atteindre la satisfaction universelle des patients.

Environmental Influences on Pigeonpea-Fusarium udum Interactions and Stability of Genotypes to Fusarium Wilt.

Fusarium wilt (Fusarium udum Butler) is an important biotic constraint to pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) production worldwide. Breeding for fusarium wilt resistance continues to be an integral part of genetic improvement of pigeonpea. Therefore, the study was aimed at identifying and validating resistant genotypes to fusarium wilt and determining the magnitude of genotype × environment (G × E) interactions through multi-environment and multi-year screening. A total of 976 genotypes including germplasm and breeding lines were screened against wilt using wilt sick plot at Patancheru, India. Ninety two genotypes resistant to wilt were tested for a further two years using wilt sick plot at Patancheru. A Pigeonpea Wilt Nursery (PWN) comprising of 29 genotypes was then established. PWN was evaluated at nine locations representing different agro-climatic zones of India for wilt resistance during two crop seasons 2007/08 and 2008/09. Genotypes (G), environment (E), and G × E interactions were examined by biplot which partitioned the main effect into G, E, and G × E interactions with significant levels (p ≤ 0.001) being obtained for wilt incidence. The genotype contributed 36.51% of resistance variation followed by the environment (29.32%). A GGE biplot integrated with a boxplot and multiple comparison tests enabled us to identify seven stable genotypes (ICPL 20109, ICPL 20096, ICPL 20115, ICPL 20116, ICPL 20102, ICPL 20106, and ICPL 20094) based on their performance across diverse environments. These genotypes have broad based resistance and can be exploited in pigeonpea breeding programs.