Patients’ Level of Satisfaction with the Health Care Services Received at Outpatient Departments in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted on patient satisfaction with health services at the Out Patient Department of Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, with the aim determining the relationship between satisfaction and explanatory factors. Suggestions and comments from the patients were also revealed in this study. Using a structured questionnaire, data were derived from 251 patients using the OPD services. Descriptive statistics were used to describe satisfaction level and independent variables while the relationships between these factors were determined by Chi-square test. The average score of patient satisfaction was 3.5 and 10.4% of the patients were highly satisfied with health services. Patients were highly satisfied with courtesy (45.8%), quality of care (44.2%), physical environment (41.8%), convenience (24.7%), and out of pocket cost (23.5%). Regarding predisposing factors, attitude were significantly associated with level of satisfaction (p=0.002). The majority of the patients were concerned about waiting time to seek a doctor’s service and counter services are being delayed due to not enough staff being available. Strategies emphasizing improving the image of the hospital should be continuously implemented while the attitude of the patients could change with good reputation of hospital. Patient satisfaction surveys can be conducted in each unit to get the real picture for further strategies. Keywords: Patient satisfaction; Outpatient