TITLE:
Study of Patient Satisfaction in the Outpatient Department in a Private Clinic
AUTHORS:
Julls Celestin Apouakone, Euloge Mfopou Yiagnigni, Rao Divya, N. Shalini, H. K. Mamatha
KEYWORDS:
Health Service, Quality Care, Patient Satisfaction, Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Service Science and Management,
Vol.18 No.2,
April
21,
2025
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a state of pleasure or happiness experienced by patients, a process and attitude, and it must be constantly monitored and measured. We aimed to check the impact of socio-demographic factors on the overall evaluation of clinical care by the patient; evaluate the impact of several elements of healthcare on overall patient satisfaction and demonstrate the effect of medical interventions on patients’ overall assessment of health care services. Method and Results: This cross-sectional study from November to December 2022 aimed to determine the factors of satisfaction among patients aged at least 18 years in the outpatient department of a private clinic. The study involved 305 participants, with 225/298 (76%) being satisfied overall and 74/298 (24%) uncertain. Partial satisfaction Marital status (P-Value = 0.01), occupation (P-Value P-Value = 0.002) were found to be statistically significant, in the overall level of satisfaction. Patient satisfaction was highest among the age group less than 30 years (88.5%). The independent variables were grouped into nine components: clinic/hospital cleanliness, clinic reception, medical infrastructure, medical exam, doctor service, nurse service, staff behavior, service delivery, and general satisfaction. The analysis used Spearman’s correlation, chi-square tests, and binary univariate and multivariate logistic regression using 0.05 significance levels to check for any association between the independent and dependent variables. The majority of participants were satisfied, with 88.5% of them being satisfied overall. The minimum level of satisfaction was observed on service delivery (62.1%) and medical infrastructure (64.4%). Age, marital status, medical infrastructure, hospital cleanliness, medical exam, clinic reception, doctor service, nurse service, staff behavior, and service delivery had significant associations with patient satisfaction at a 0.05 level of significance independently. Those over 50 years, divorced or widowed, and those with satisfaction with medical infrastructure, hospital cleanliness, medical exams, clinic reception, doctor service, nurse service, staff behavior, and service delivery were more likely to have full overall satisfaction. After controlling for other variables, only medical infrastructure, service delivery, staff behavior, medical exams, and clinic cleanliness had a significant association with overall patient satisfaction at a 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: After controlling the variables only, medical infrastructure, service delivery, staff behavior, medical exam, and clinic cleanliness had significant associations with overall patient satisfaction at 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that healthcare characteristics affect patient satisfaction, and close monitoring should be done by management.