Patients' knowledge of health rights and satisfaction with outpatient services at the tertiary hospitals in Enugu state, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator for measuring the success of the health system goals, delivery quality care that is safe, equitable, patient-centered, evidence-based, timely and efficient, through interprofessional collaborative team work. Equally, patient's knowledge of their health rights will enhance better provider-patients relationship, patient satisfaction, and effective care management. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare patients' knowledge of health rights, satisfaction with the physicians' conducts and outpatient services across three tertiary hospitals in Enugu, Nigeria. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 304 patients selected from the outpatient clinics of the University of Nigeria Teaching hospital (UNTH), National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOHE), and Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), from October to December, 2015 was conducted. A four point Likert scale, dissatisfied (1), very dissatisfied (2), moderately satisfied (3), and very satisfied (4) was applied. Knowledge of health rights were scored as follows, 0-5 poor knowledge, 6-10 good knowledge, 11 and above very good knowledge. A minimum sample size of 91 patients was calculated for each of the study hospital, but increased to100 each, to enhance precision, reduce error margin, and to contend possible nonresponses and incompleteness. A multi-stage sampling technique was applied. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. RESULTS: Knowledge of health rights was poor in 5.9%, 20.8%, and 14.9% of patients (X2 =9.61, p=0.000), and very good in 70.6%, 46.5% and 59.4% patients (X2 =12.14, p=0.000) from UNTH, NOHE, and ESUTH respectively. The mean knowledge scores were 10.50 ±3.240 for UNTH; 8.72±2.953 for NOHE; and 9.93±3.151 for the ESUTH. The overall mean knowledge scores of the patients across the three hospitals was not statistically significant (F=0.000, P =1.000). Patients' overall mean satisfaction with physicians' conduct and services was 3.63±0.525 for UNTH, 3.45±0.741 for NOHE, and 3.47±0.609 for ESUTH, with no statistically significant difference (F=0.000, P =1.000). Overall mean satisfaction scores for the general outpatient services were 3.19±0.728, 3.15±0.713, and 3.00±0.721 for UNTH, NOHE, and ESUT respectively. The observed differences in the overall mean satisfaction for the general services provisions across the hospitals was not statistically significant (F=0.000, P=1.000). Patients' mean knowledge scores were statistically (p=0.000) associated with mean satisfaction with the physicians' conduct and services provision across hospitals. CONCLUSION: Patients knowledge of health rights and satisfaction with physicians' conducts and outpatient services across the hospitals were generally good and satisfactory, but differed statistically in-between hospitals