Patients' satisfaction with the non-communicable diseases services provided at UNRWA health centres in Gaza governorates: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundMost health-care organisations are increasingly interested in assessing the quality of their services. Patient satisfaction has a central role in the quality assessment in health care because it reflects the appropriateness of services from the clients' perspectives. The aim of this study was to assess the level of satisfaction in patients with non-communicable diseases (mainly diabetes and hypertension) who receive services from UNRWA health centres in Gaza governorates. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study we chose a random sample of participants who presented to the randomly selected six health centres for treatment of non-communicable diseases. Through an exit interviewing technique, participants were chosen according to the study eligibility criteria and were requested to complete a questionnaire. The total instrument reliability (Cronbach's Alpha) was very high (0·936). To examine construct validity, we used Factor Analysis Principal Component Extraction with Varimax Rotation and Kaiser Normalisation with a cutoff point of 0·4. The reported variance was 42·28%, indicating high validity. Ethical approval from the Palestinian Ministry of Health (the Helsinki committee) was obtained, and verbal consent was obtained from the participants. Findings327 (82%) of 400 eligible patients completed the questionnaire. The reported overall satisfaction level with services for non-communicable diseases was moderately high (72%). The study extracted six domains that could constitute a framework for patient satisfaction with services at UNRWA clinics for non-communicable diseases. Elicited satisfaction scores about these domains varied and ranged from 57% to 84%. Although high satisfaction levels were found with general impressions, accessibility, communication, and interpersonal relationships, patients had a low level of satisfaction with the technical quality of services, clinic environment, and convenience of the services. People who were unmarried, working, living in the southern governorates of Gaza, educated, and had received educational materials were more satisfied than their counterparts. Patients who were seen by a specific health provider, who received all their medications from UNRWA, and who had not been turned away from a clinic without receiving the service they came for were more satisfied than their counterparts. The level of patient satisfaction did not differ by sex, age, presence of disability, presence of complications associated with non-communicable diseases, control status, kind of non-communicable disease, type of treatment provided, or duration of the non-communicable disease. InterpretationIncreasing the convenience and promoting the technical quality of work are important to improve the experience of patients with non-communicable disease. Furthermore, health managers and health providers could use these study findings to focus on those who are at risk of losing their satisfaction with services. FundingNone.