Abstract
Food service in hospital is one of the essential parts of the treatment process that determines recovery length and a hospital stay of patients. Even though many researches have been conducted on patients' satisfaction with healthcare services, there is a lack of studies that specifically address the satisfaction with food service at healthcare facilities in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with regular hospital food service and associated factors among adults admitted to in-patient departments of hospitals. A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted to interview 423 patients admitted to three randomly selected hospitals namely Wolaita Sodo University Referral and Teaching Hospital, Dubo St. Catholic Hospital and Sodo Christian Hospital. Participants were recruited based on probability proportional to the number of clients in each hospital. After data entry using EpiInfo v7.2.2.6, the data were exported to SPSS v23 software for further analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were undertaken to see the association between variables. Statistically significant variables were declared using an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Among the total participants 33.6% (95%CI: [29.1, 38.3]) of patients were satisfied with regular hospital food services. Multivariate analysis revealed that residence (AOR = 2.16; 95%CI: [1.28, 3.63]), monthly income (AOR = 5.64; 95%CI: [2.30, 8.28]), flavour of meal, (AOR = 2.63; 95%CI: [1.34, 5.56]), and provision of easily chewable food (AOR = 7.50; 95%CI: [2.00, 12.82]) were influencing factors for satisfaction on hospital foodservices. This research ascertained a low patient satisfaction with regular hospital meal service. The identified factors need to be addressed giving attention for each foodservice dimension to scale up the patient satisfaction with hospital food services.
Highlights
The identified factors need to be addressed giving attention for each foodservice dimension to scale up the patient satisfaction with hospital food services
Patient satisfaction has become a key measure by which the quality of health care services is evaluated
Foodservice in hospitals is the only source of nutrition for majority of patients and essential part of the healthcare management
Summary
Patient satisfaction has become a key measure by which the quality of health care services is evaluated. Available studies had identified the overall hospital patient satisfaction, focusing on quality of nursing, physician, and the technical medical care, [1, 2]. Foodservice in hospitals is the only source of nutrition for majority of patients and essential part of the healthcare management. It is one of the most important items of health care quality perceived by patients and by their families, [5–7]. Food service in hospital is one of the essential parts of the treatment process that determines recovery length and a hospital stay of patients. This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with regular hospital food service and associated factors among adults admitted to in-patient departments of hospitals
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