Patients' perception and satisfaction with health care professionals at primary care facilities in Trinidad and Tobago.

This paper endeavours to identify the background characteristics of health centre users in Trinidad and Tobago and their perceptions of the efficiency of the services provided. Multistage sampling was employed to select 1451 users. Data were obtained during structured interviews on regular clinic days. Of the people using the health centres, 80.4% were unemployed and 75.9% were women. People aged over 60 accounted for 25.4% of the sample. Users included a disproportionately high number of persons from the lower socioeconomic categories. The proportions of persons of different ethnic and religious groups closely reflected those in the country's general population. Approximately 74% of the interviewees were satisfied with the performance of the doctors in the health centres. For nurses the satisfaction rating was about 10% higher. The greatest needs for improvement were perceived to be in pharmacists' and doctors' services, with particular reference to waiting times.

Patients' perception and satisfaction with health care professionals at primary care facilities in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper endeavours to identify the background characteristics of health centre users in Trinidad and Tobago and their perceptions of the efficiency of the services provided. Multistage sampling was employed to select 1451 users. Data were obtained during structured interviews on regular clinic days. Of the people using health centres 80.4 percent were unemployed and 75.9 percent were women. People aged over 60 accounted for 25.4 percent of the sample. Users included a disproportionately high number of persons from the lower socioeconomic categories. The proportions of person of different ethnic and religious groups closely reflected those in the country's general population. Approximately 74 percent of the interviewees were satisfied with the performance of the doctors in the health centres. For nurses the satisfaction ratings was about 10 percent higher. The greatest needs for improvement were perceived to be in pharmacists' and doctors' services with particular reference to waiting times.(AU)

Patient perception and satisfaction with health care professionals at primary care facilities in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper endeavours to identify the background characteristics of health centre users in Trinidad and Tobago and their perceptions of the efficiency of the services provided. Multistage sampling was employed to select 1451 users. Data were obtained during structured interviews on regular clinic days. Of the people using the health centres, 80.4 percent were unemployed and 75.9 percent were women. People aged over 60 accounted for 25.4 percent of the sample. Users included a disproportionately high number of persons from the lower socioeconomic categories. The proportions of persons of different ethnic and religious groups closely reflected those in the country's general population. Approximately 74 percent of the interviewees were satisfied with the performance of the doctors in the health centres. For nurses the satisfaction rating was about 10 percent higher. The greatest needs for improvement were perceived to be in pharmacists' and doctors' services, with particular reference to waiting times.(Au)

Patients' perceptions and satisfaction at health centres in Trinidad and Tobago - abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify background characteristics of health centre (HC) users in Trinidad and Tobago with respect to the levels of satisfaction and their perception of the services provided. Multi-staged sampling was used to select 1,500 HC users throughout the country. Data were obtained using structured interviews conducted on regular clinic days. The results showed that there is a large percentage of unemployed men (80.4 percent) and women (75.9 percent) among the users of HCs. The elderly are well represented with 25.4 percent of the sample being over 60 years of age. Also, occupational status of family wage earners and educational attainment levels of respondents reflect a disproportionately higher number from lower socio-economic groups among HC users. There are fairly high levels of patient satisfaction with health care received at the HCs in the more dis-advantaged groups; i.e. the elderly, women, the unemployed. When the categories for 'satisfied' were combined, 67.4 percent were satisfied with the medical care received at the HCs. There was a statistically significant association between age, education, ethnicity and levels of satisfaction with care received and also between employment status, age, ethnicity and services that need improving. Services in greatest need of improvement are pharmacy supplies, doctor services and reducing the long waiting time. When doctors, nurses and pharmacists were compared with respect to 'courtesy and consideration,' 'skills and advice provided' there were generally high levels of satisfaction with all three categories of staff. (AU)

Patient satisfaction at health centres in Trinidad and Tobago.

The aim of this paper is to identify background characteristics of health centre users in Trinidad and Tobago and their perceptions of the services provided. Multi-staged sampling was used to select 1,500 health centre users throughout the country. Data were obtained using structured interviews conducted on regular clinic days. Results show that there is an overwhelmingly large percentage of unemployed persons (80.4%) and women (75.9%) among the users of health centres. The elderly is well represented, with 25.4 percent of the sample being over 60 years of age. Also, occupational status of family wage earners and educational attainment levels of respondents reflect a disproportionately higher number from lower socio-economic groupings among health centre users. On the other hand, proportions of different ethnic and religious groups among the respondents bear a striking similarity to the general population of Trinidad and Tobago. Respondents appear to be generally satisfied with the services of the health centres. When the categories for "satisfied' and "very satisfied' were combined, results show that 73.0% of respondents were satisfied with the comfort of the health centre, 81.7% with the ease and convenience of getting to the health centre and 67.4% with the medical care received at the health centre. According to respondents' opinions, the services in greatest need of improvement are the pharmacy and doctor services, especially through reducing the long waiting period. When the doctors, nurses and pharmacists were compared with respect to "courtesy and consideration', "Skills and Competence' and "advice provided', results show that the generally high levels of satisfaction are remarkably similar in all three cases.

PIP: A survey was conducted of 1500 health centers in Trinidad and Tobago to evaluate the impact of health centers on clients and characteristics of clients. Most clients belonged to disadvantaged groups: 80.4% were unemployed and 75.9% were women. 25.4% of clients were elderly. Among employed clients, the occupational status of the main wage earner tended to be low (e.g., 16.4% skilled manual, 15.6% unskilled manual, and 13.2% lower non-manual). Only 1.8% of clients had achieved a tertiary educational level. The ethnicity and religious affiliation of clients reflected that of the general population. 73% of clients considered the health centers to be comfortable. 81.7% were satisfied with the ease and convenience of visiting the health center. 67.4% considered the medical care received to be satisfactory. 74.2% spent 2-6 hours at the health center, largely due to insufficient health personnel, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical supplies. Thus, the lack of resources made it difficult to service the needs of the health center clientele. The long waiting period may have been inconvenient for employed persons. 47% of clients were unwilling to pay for health care. The services most in need of improvement were pharmacies (35.1%) and physicians' care (27.4%). Patients tended to rate physicians, nurses, and pharmacists equally high in terms of satisfaction with courtesy and consideration, skills and competence, and advice provided.

Patient satisfaction at health centres in Trinidad and Tobago

The aim of this paper is to identify background characteristics of health centre users in Trinidad and Tobago and their perceptions of the services provided. Multi-staged sampling was used to select 1,500 health centre users throughout the country. Data were obtained using structured interviews conducted on regular clinic days. Results show that there is an overwhelmingly large percentage of unemployed persons (80.4 percent) and women (75.9 percent) among the users of health centres. The elderly is well represented, with 25.4 percent of the sample being over 60 years of age. Also occupational status of family wage earners and educational attainment levels of respondents reflect a disproportionately higher number from lower socio-economic groupings among health centre users. On the other hand, proportions of different ethnic and religious groups among the respondents bear a striking similarity to the general population of Trinidad and Tobago. Respondents appear to be generally satisfied with the services of the health centres. When the categories for <