Patient Satisfaction With Waiting Time At The Out Patient Department (Opd), Holy Family Hospital, Techiman

Abstract

Waiting time remains a vital indicator among several tool for patient’s satisfaction in health services organization. Ideally, patients visiting out-patient department wants to spend less time (at least 30-45 minutes) and they would be very much satisfied. But often, this is not what the case in most of the hospitals in Ghana, hence, there was the need to conduct satisfactory survey whether patients are satisfied with the time spent at the Holy Family Hospital, Techiman. Objective of the study: To assess patients satisfactory with waiting at the OPD at Holy Family Hospital, Techiman. Method: a cross-sectional study was used. Data were collected from 10th September to 11th October 2018. Four hundred and eight respondents accessing the various units at the OPD services of the Holy Family Hospital were recruited. Exit interviews were conducted using semi-structured questionnaires. Data collection covered socio-demography, morbidity, patient perceived reasons for waiting time at each working area i.e records, vital signs consulting rooms and pharmacy. All data were entered on EPL info screen and analyzed using STATA 15. Likert Scale (very satisfied and dissatisfied) was used to rate the satisfaction levels. Composite satisfaction score was then used to determine the overall satisfaction with waiting time. The expected outcome of this study was to ensure and improve prompt and timely delivery of services at the OPD, at Techiman Holy Family Hospital. Results. Most of the respondents were aged 31-40 with mean age of 42.7 years (95% CI: 41-44) Majority of the respondents were females 65.7%. The mean waiting time at Records was the highest, 74.5 minutes. For patients perceived reasons for waiting high workload recorded the highest with 38.7% at the Pharmacy 36.1% at Consulting room, 28.8% at Records and 15.2% at Vital signs. With patient flow the distribution were as follows: 25.2% at Vital signs, 24.2% at Records, 19.2% at the Pharmacy, 17.7% consulting rooms. The next reason for waiting was late arrival of patients with the following distributions. 30.9% for Vital signs. 17.4% for Pharmacy. 8.8% for Consulting room and 5.7% for Records. Conclusions: The average waiting time at the OPD was high (2hours 50minutes) with the majority of the patients spending more than 2 hours. The time spent were more with patients presenting with chronic conditions compare to acute condition. The main perceived reason were high workload, patient flow and late arrival of patients to the facility. However, patients were satisfied with the time they wait to be treated at the Holy Family Hospital, Techiman. Key word: patients satisfaction, perceive reasons, waiting time, working areas