ABSTRACT
Nature and Scope of the Paper: This study is aimed to determine the Hospital Services and Patient Satisfaction in a Level II hospital using a questionnaire.
Objective or Purpose: The researcher was motivated to conduct this study because of the comments written by the patients or significant others on the survey questionnaire distributed to them prior to discharge. The survey questionnaire assessed the over-all experience with their hospital stay. Some comments reveal honest reviews that needs improvement or intervention on the part of the hospital. Aside from the comments, the researcher was able to receive complaints on late arrival of doctors, partial bill of patients not properly discussed, long queue in health insurance claims, billing process takes time. These made the researcher realize that there is a need to assess patient’s satisfaction in certain areas in the hospital specifically those that are immediately in contact with the patient such as medical services, nursing services, financial services and the ancillary services in order to address the gaps; improve outcomes including patient experiences.
Research Method: This study used quantitative, descriptive, correlation and comparative design. The targeted participants of this study were 100 patients who were admitted atleast 2 days in any areas of the hospital namely Medical, Surgery and OB that do not have any complications. The participants of this study should be atleast 18 to 59 years old that are coherent and capable of answering questions on their own. health condition regardless of gender, the reason of admission, type of accommodation and diagnosis. Those patients who were under critical care were excluded in this study. To determine the number of participants in the study, random sampling technique was utilized; random sampling technique was also used in recruiting the participants.
Results: It showed that the Age of the respondents is significant to the level of patient satisfaction; That, the educational attainment of the respondents were significant to the extent of hospital services and patient satisfaction and Ancillary services were significant to patient satisfaction.
Conclusion: The management must address the need to improve the services provided by the hospital, specifically the ancillary services that cater to the varied and immediate needs of the patients. The hospital management and its staff will identify, and craft the training needs of personnel involved in dealing with the patients. Formulate more scientific and reasonable service quality evaluation indicators from the perspective of patients and conduct patient-oriented scientific quality management. It is recommended, therefore.to continue to evaluate the areas understudy and to explore other areas of the hospital that needs improvement. It is necessary to conduct further study and periodic assessment of health services delivery in regard to patient satisfaction.
Keywords: Hospital Services, Patient Satisfaction
INTRODUCTION
Patient satisfaction is an essential and widely used criterion for assessing the quality of health services. Clinical results, patient retention, and medical malpractice charges are all impacted by patient satisfaction. It has an impact on the prompt, effective, and patient-centered provision of high-quality care. (Prakash 2010) Additionally, the degree of agreement between a patient's expectations of the optimum level of care and their impression of the actual level of care they receive is known as patient satisfaction. Furthermore, it helps in the evaluation of medical services from the perspective of the patient. It also helps with problem-solving ideas generation and problem-area identification (Abera, 2017).
Patient satisfaction is becoming a more crucial factor in quality care reforms and overall health care delivery across the United States of America and Europe. Patient satisfaction studies, however, are complicated by a dual focus: while some researchers concentrate on patient satisfaction with the type and quality of healthcare services received, others focus on people's satisfaction with the health system more broadly. There is also no universally recognized definition or measure for patient satisfaction. For instance, contented patients are more likely to comply to treatment plans, being responsive, and participative (Bleich, 2007). Moreover, studies show that elements of the hospital work environment, including a better patient-to-nurse ratio, nurse engagement in decision-making, and favorable doctor-nurse relationships, are linked to better patient outcomes, including mortality.
The researcher was motivated to conduct this study because of the comments written by the patients or significant others on the survey questionnaire distributed to them prior to discharge. The survey questionnaire assessed the over-all experience with their hospital stay. Some comments reveal honest reviews that needs improvement or intervention on the part of the hospital. Such feedback containing comments like: “hospital staff should be more enthusiastic in taking care and rendering care to their patient”; “Dieticians must be aware of food that should react to allergies to the patient”; Changing of bedding is not updated”; Laboratory schedule should be convenient enough for the needs of every patient”. Aside from the comments, the researcher was able to receive complaints on late arrival of doctors, partial bill of patients not properly discussed, long queue in health insurance claims, billing process takes time. These made the researcher realize that there is a need to assess patient’s satisfaction in certain areas in the hospital specifically those that are immediately in contact with the patient such as medical services, nursing services, financial services and the ancillary services in order to address the gaps; improve outcomes including patient experiences.
Further, the results of the research study will guide hospital management practice, education, and research that the outcomes will serve as basis for improvement and crafting of training needs for the management and staff. It will also encourage to enhance deficiencies; modify crudeness and enrich hospital services including experiences.
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