Patients’ satisfaction with emergency care and priorities for change in a university teaching hospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Little work has been done on patients' satisfaction with hospital care in Nigeria. This prospective study was done to identify factors affecting patients' satisfaction with emergency care in a teaching hospital in Nigeria. This study was carried out among adult patients who had received care at the Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital. We used the priority index (calculated by combining the mean score on all items and correlated weight) to identify areas of emergency services in need of urgent improvement. There were 250 respondents; 147 males and 103 females. Six (6.4%) patients declined to answer the questionnaire. Time to surgical intervention was the item with the highest priority for change. This was followed by three indicators of caregiver conduct: showing genuine concern by health workers, attitude of nurses, and courtesy by health workers. Females rated all indices of satisfaction lower than males. Surgical and gynecological patients were also less satisfied with their care than their medical and trauma counterparts. The results from this study provided necessary data to guide changes needed to improve patient satisfaction in the A&E. Our findings suggest that improving speed of access to surgery and enhancing interpersonal skills of healthcare givers are areas that need to be prioritized.