Satisfaction among patients attending a specialist medical clinic

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of satisfaction among patients attending the Cardiac Specialists Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Mona. METHOD: A 25-item pre-tested questionnaire was administered to a purposive sample (n=39), men (n=10) and women (n=29), 43.3 percent of a total population (n=90) attending the clinic in May and June 2001. Their median age was 59 years, range 31-90 years. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the responses of the men and the women. Respondents travelled a median of eight miles, range 2-183 miles, to attend the clinic, and waited for a median of four hours, range 1-8 hours, before receiving attention. They had attended the clinic a median of four times. Despite this, they reported a high level of satisfaction with all categories of hospital personnel (median rating 8/10). They, however, rated the caring behaviour of the physicians significantly higher than that of nurses (z=3.2, p<0.001). The majority (71.8 percent) regarded the clinic fees as "reasonable". Fifty percent were eligible for the Drugs for the Elderly Programme but only 21.5 percent were on it. This programme is not offered at the UHWI hospital pharmacy. Only two persons rated the overall facilities as "excellent". They all would recommend the services of the clinics to friends and relatives for "good treatment from knowledgeable doctors and nurses" and "cleanliness of the surroundings". CONCLUSION: Overall, patients were satisfied with the services. The waiting time and time taken to find the dockets were the areas of greatest concern. (AU)