Satisfaction on outpatient services in hospitals of the Amhara Region.

ABSTRACT

A cross sectional survey was conducted to assess patients' satisfaction on outpatient services in the hospitals of the Amara Region. A total of 898 patients from nine hospitals were interviewed on exit. The majority (95.9%) had come due to illness, and of which, 53.2% had illnesses that lasted for more than 30 days. Among those who were sick, 47.5% were non-paying (free) patients. Long waiting hours during registration, visiting of doctors after registration, laboratory procedures, and revisiting of the doctors for evaluation with laboratory results and obtaining drugs from pharmacies were associated with dissatisfaction. When logistic regression was applied, waiting time for registration, physician consultation/examination, obtaining the prescribed drugs from the pharmacies, and overall time taken to receive prescriptions were associated with dissatisfaction. Among the sociodemographic factors, age was associated with dissatisfaction. More than one-third of the patients did not get the medications prescribed in the hospital pharmacies. Failure to find the prescribed drugs was associated with dissatisfaction. Unnecessary patient delays should be reduced to the minimum by assessing hospitals' processes. Ensuring drug supply with facilitated administrative processes is recommended.