Patients' satisfaction and opinions of their experiences during admission in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan - a cross sectional study.
BACKGROUND
It is often felt that developing countries need to improve their quality of healthcare provision. This study hopes to generate data that can help managers and doctors to improve the standard of care they provide in line with the wishes of the patients.


METHODS
It was a cross sectional study carried out at a major tertiary care hospital of Karachi. Patients between the ages of 18 and 80 years admitted to the hospital for at least one day were included. Patients in the maternity, psychiatry and chemotherapy wards and those in the ICU/CCU were excluded. A pretested, peer reviewed translation of a validated patient satisfaction scale developed by the Picker Institute of Europe was administered.


RESULTS
A total of 173 patients (response rate: 78.6 %) filled the questionnaire. Patient satisfaction was at levels comparable to European surveys for most aspects of hospital care. However, nearly half the patients (48%) felt they had to wait too long to get a bed in the hospital after presenting to the ER. 68.6% of the patients said that they were never asked for views on the quality of care provided. 20% of the patients did not find anyone in the staff to talk to about their worries and fears while 27.6% felt that they were given emotional support to only some extent. Up to one third of the patients said they were not provided enough information regarding their operative procedures beforehand.


CONCLUSIONS
Although several components of patient care equal the quality levels of the west, many sections require considerable improvement in order to improve health care provision. The healthcare team needs to get more involved with the patients, providing them greater support and keeping them informed and involved with their medical treatment. Efforts should be made to get regular feedback from the patients.
Imam
Sardar Zakariya
SZ
Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. zakariya.imam@gmail.com
Syed
Khezar Shahzada
KS
Ali
Syed Ahad
SA
Ali
Syed Umer
SU
Fatima
Kiran
K
Gill
Marium
M
Hassan
Muhammad Ovais
MO
Hashmi
Saad Hasan
SH
Siddiqi
Maham T
MT
Khan
Hadi Muhammad
HM
Jameel
Omar Farooq
OF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D015285:Hospital-Patient Relations; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors