Pattern and Predictors of Patients' Willingness to Comply with Recommendations after Surgical Consultations in a Teaching Hospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Willingness of patients to comply with decisions taken during surgical consultations may influence the quality of care and health outcome.
 Objective: This study determined the pattern and predictors of patients' willingness to adhere to surgical recommendations.
 Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study involving about 490 adults recruited by systematic sampling. The content validity and internal consistency reliability of the tool which assessed patients' willingness to comply with recommendations for follow-up visit, drug prescription, investigation and surgical procedure were determined. Frequencies distribution and multivariate ordinal logistic regressions were conducted and p-value <0.05 was considered significant.
 Results: A total of 466 respondents' data was analysed giving a response rate of 95.1%. The Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.7 and the mean age of the respondents was 43.7 +15.7 years. About a fifth (18.2%) earned more than N==150,000 (»$385) and out-of-pocket payment was the prevalent mode of making payments (83.3%). Follow-up visit was the most frequent recommendation (31.8%) and patients' willingness to accept recommendations ranged from 62.7% (admission) to 93.2% (prescription). The visit status was the most consistent predictors of patients' willingness to accept the various recommendations.
 Conclusion: Fewer patients were willing to accept the recommendation for an admission than other recommendations. Findings are useful in developing strategies to improve patients' adherence with recommendations following consultations with surgeons.
 Keywords: Consultation; Hospital; Inpatient; Nigeria; Outpatient; Patient Acceptance of HealthCare; Teaching.