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.