Patients’ Satisfaction About Health Care Services in Outpatient Department of General Surgery at PIMS, Islamabad

Objective: To assess the Patients’ satisfaction about health care services in the outpatient department of General Surgery at PIMS, Islamabad. Methodology: This is a prospective cross sectional study done for six months at General Surgery OPD, PIMS, Islamabad. All patients who attended the outpatient department of GSU-III were included. After consent patients answered a specially designed 30-item cross-sectional questionnaire regarding general convenience and satisfaction aspects regarding the OPD. Questions depicting the interpersonal relationships and the role of Doctors and the paramedic staff at the hospital are also included. All data was collected, recorded and analyzed using SPSS 17 and excel 2013. Results: A total of 410 patients were included with the mean age of 41 years and male to female ratio was≈ 1:3. 57.4% patients had completed their secondary or higher secondary education. 12.1% were labourers, 19.5% were students, 19.5% were unemployed and 34.1% were housewives. Most of the population was already registered at the general surgery department PIMS. Response to various questions regarding general convenience and satisfaction aspects regarding the OPD were averagely rated ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ by 96.3% patients, while 14.6% had their reservations. Answers depicting the interpersonal relationships and the role of Doctors and the paramedic staff at the hospital were appreciable in 71.95% and 64.6% of the cases respectively. 16.2% and 19.5% negated respectively. Interviews from all patients were taken into account in data analysis and conclusion. In sum, the patient’s satisfaction (58.5%) with the overall care (62.1%) were satisfactory. 59.7% patients wished to recommend this service to others. Conclusion: Most of the patients who visited the Outpatient department of General Surgery Unit III were satisfied regarding the overall care and the behavior of doctors and paramedical staff interacting with them