Patients’ Perception and Satisfaction With Healthcare Professionals at Primary Care Facilities in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives Of Study
The general objective of this study is to describe patient perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary health care facilities in Enugu. The specific objectives are:
- To describe and compare the perceived quality of care at the various levels of care in Enugu
- To determine the level of client satisfaction with health care professionals in the health facilities
- To identify the predictors of perception of quality of care and client satisfaction in the health facilities
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Assessment is an act of evaluation or appraisal of a particular situation to determine the performance of an individual or an organization. Patient satisfaction is usually a subjective judgment of the quality of care, though it may also be assessed objectively. However, it has long been considered an important component of care outcomes and is frequently integrated into evaluations of overall clinical quality. Donabedian, arguably the leading theorist in the area of quality assurance, has emphasized that client satisfaction is of fundamental importance as a measure of the quality of care because it gives information on the provider’s success at meeting those client values and expectations, which are matters on which the client is the ultimate authority
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not necessarily the absence of disease. Better health is essential for human happiness and well-being. It also makes an important contribution to economic progress, as healthy populations live longer, are more productive, and save more. Many factors influence health status and a country’s ability to provide quality health services for its people. Ministries of health are important contributors as well as other government departments, donor organizations, civil society groups and communities themselves. For example: investments in roads can improve access to health services; inflation targets can constrain health spending; and civil service reform can create opportunities – or limits – to hiring more health workers.
Healthcare is the prevention, treatment and management of illness or the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical, nursing and allied health professions. Wares and his colleagues identified the art of care to be the most frequently measured dimension assessing patients’ satisfaction and was also considered to be an aspect of physicians conduct along with the technical quality of care. It was described as the dimension focused on the ‘amount of care’ shown to the patient; friendliness of the physician, patience, concern, etc. on the positive spectrum of evaluation and attributes such as abruptness, disrespect, degree to which physicians embarrass, hurt, or worry their patients etc. on the negative spectrum
A patient is any person who receives treatment from a doctor or medically educated persons. The patient is often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a health care provider
Satisfaction is said to be a state of pleasure or contentment with an action, event or service, especially one that was previously desired. When applied to medical care; patient satisfaction can be considered in the context of patient’s appraisal of their desires and expectations of health care. Patients’ satisfaction refers to patients’ value, judgments and subsequent reactions to what they perceive in the health environment just before, during, and after the course of their inpatient stay or clinical visit. It is patients’ appraisal of their desires and expectation of healthcare.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to Patients’ perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary care facilities in Nigeria.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
- Primary source and
- Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in gathering information relevant to Patients’ perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary care facilities in Nigeria. 100 staffs of selected health care in Enugu and 100 patients was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA
One hundred and sixty (160) questionnaires were distributed and one hundred and forty (133) were returned. This figure was the sample size. Out of the one hundred and thirty-three, only one hundred and twenty (120) were properly responded to. As a result, the researcher used one hundred and twenty for this study when more than 50% of the respondents agree to the questions, the answer is taken as valid for the purpose of this study. In analyzing the data, the approach that will be adopted is to find out the percentage and positive and negative answers to the question posed.
In table 1, 160 questionnaires were administered, but only 120 were returned fully responded to this were used for the researcher.
Table II: What is the perceived quality of care at the various levels of care in Enugu?
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain Patients’ perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary care facilities in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of Patients’ perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary care facilities in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on Patients’ perception and satisfaction with healthcare professionals at primary care facilities in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To describe and compare the perceived quality of care at the various levels of care in Enugu, to determine the level of client satisfaction with health care professionals in the health facilities and to identify the predictors of perception of quality of care and client satisfaction in the health facilities. In line with these objectives, three research questions were asked and answered. The total population for the study is 100 selected healthcare staffs and 100 patients were used. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made doctors, nurses, male patients and female patients were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Patients who received general practice care at the primary health centre were significantly more satisfied than those who did so at the tertiary health centre. Findings have implications in current efforts at restructuring health service delivery in Nigeria. We recommend more training of providers on the interpersonal aspect of care and increased sensitization on patients’ utilization of primary health care systems as first contact, continuing, comprehensive and efficient personal and non-personal healthcare needs.
Recommendation
Government should provide each primary healthcare with modern facilities for proper care and satisfaction of patients
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