Patient Satisfaction With Outpatient Department Care At The Potsin Polyclinic, Gomoa East District

Abstract

Background: Patients’ satisfaction is an essential indicator in medical practice and research. Therefore, assessing quality of care or patient satisfaction is necessary since it could help in understanding how patients use health care services in a particular setting. However, it appears that the provision of satisfactory health care depends on several factors, including the level of development of a particular country. Objective: The general objective of the study was to assess factors associated with patients’ satisfaction at the outpatients’ department (OPD) of the Potsin Polyclinic in the Gomoa East District, Central Region. Method: The study adopted the cross-sectional study design using quantitative methods to collect data from 354 patients who attended the Potsin Polyclinic for analysis. A structured patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-18) validated by earlier researcher was adopted/adapted and administered to the patients who were recruited using the simple random sampling technique. The variables measured were grouped into dependent and independent. The data collected was analysed using statistical software like STATA version 16. Descriptive statistics was presented in tables and graphs. Chi square test and logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the association between the dependent and independent variables. A level of significance was accepted at p<0.05 at 95% confidence interval. Results: Generally, study found that the overall level of satisfaction was 64% among the respondents accessing OPD care at the Potsin Polyclinic. On the individual (patients’ socio-demographic characteristics) factors, the study found that age (p<0.05), education (p<0.05), and occupation (p<0.05) were significantly associated with the overall level of patient satisfaction with OPD care in the multiple linear regression. For instance, respondents in the age range 21-30 years were 4.52 likely to report a higher level of satisfaction (95% CI:0.03,9.91, p=0.044), and those in the age range 31-40 years were 7.23 likely to report a higher level of satisfaction (95% CI:1.47-12.99, p=0.014) with OPD care than those in the age range 18-20 years. The study also found that health provider factors, which showed a strong correlation with patient satisfaction were technical quality (p<0.05), interpersonal manner (p<0.05), communication (p<0.05), the financial aspect of patients (p<0.05), time spent with doctors (p<0.05), and accessibility and convenience (p<0.05). For instance, the study found that technical quality TQ3 and technical quality TQ1 (0.51), and technical quality TQ4 and technical quality TQ2 (0.55) all revealed a strong correlation with patient satisfaction. Conclusion / recommendation: The study concludes that patients attending the Potsin Polyclinic would be satisfied based on their age, education, and occupational status. Furthermore, patients attending the Potsin Polyclinic would be satisfied if the health providers could emphasise factors, which showed a strong correlation with patient satisfaction. The findings of the study would enable policy makers and management of health institutions to address issues of quality of care/patient satisfaction.