Patients' Satisfaction With Surgical Out Patient Services At The Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Delta State, Nigeria

Introduction Patient satisfaction refers to the extent of the patient's experience compared to his expectations. Over the years, patients are getting more aware of their rights with increasing expectations. With more efficient and well equipped private hospitals springing up and the recent upsurge of medical tourism, the need for regular assessment of client satisfaction with public health care provider services in order to make improvements where necessary has become imperative. This study aims to assess patient satisfaction with services provided at the Surgical Out-patient Department of the Delta University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Delta State Nigeria.Patients and Method A cross sectional study of the satisfaction of patients with the services provided at the Surgical Out-patient department of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara. Delta State, Nigeria using the short form Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-IS (PSQ-18). Completed questionnaires from 108 randomly selected surgical out-patients were analysed using the SPSS, version 17.Results One hundred and three patients who completed their questionnaires fully were used in the study. There were 40 males (88.8%) and 68 females (61.2%). Mean age of patients was 41 ± 15.6 with a range of 16-85 years. The overall average satisfaction score was 8.4209 (68.42%). The highest subscale score was 8.8107 (76.21%) in the area of interpersonal relationship with the doctor while the lowest score of 2.8447 (56.89%) was given by respondents for satisfaction with the financial aspect of care. In terms of response to individual questions the least score was for question 9 on waiting time [2.6408 (52.82%)]while the highest score was for question 6 which borders on doctors' thoroughness (part of technical competence).Conclusion Most of the areas assessed for patients' satisfaction in this study will need one form of intervention or the other in order to further improve on the satisfaction level of our patients. Even areas with relatively high percentage satisfaction need steps to be taken to maintain that level of satisfaction. In particular the waiting time at the surgical out-patient department and the fees patients pay need to be addressed.Keywords: Patient Satisfaction; PSQ- 18; Surgical Services; Nigeria