The Impact of Hospital Accreditation on the Patients Satisfaction of Haemodialysis Department Services

Abstract

The quality of hospital Haemodialysis Department Service is one of the most relevant items of health care quality perceived by patients and by their families. Patient satisfaction is considered a way of measuring the quality of services provided. Objectives: To study the impact of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) Accreditation, India on Haemodialysis Department Service patient satisfaction. Methods: It is a quantitative, descriptive and inferential research based case study in which sample of a population was studied by structured satisfaction survey questionnaires (before and after the accreditation) in a private tertiary care hospital at Secunderabad, Telangana State, India to determine its characteristics, and it is then inferred that the population has the same or different characteristics. Significance of Research: It was observed initially before the accreditation that there was a lower patient satisfaction rate of the hospital Haemodialysis Department Services, which was affecting the study hospitals’ business. Hypothesis: Null Hypothesis (Ho) and Alternative Hypothesis (H1) were used and tested to compare the before and after impact of accreditation by applying to each question in the questionnaire. Study Design: The closed ended questionnaire was developed considering the Haemodialysis Department Services and incorporated the six dimensions of quality Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, and Patient-centred (STEEP) and tested prior to implementing. Questionnaires were given to the patients' families for completion upon using the Haemodialysis Department Services two months before and two months after the accreditation. The data were collected in order to cover all three shifts of the Haemodialysis Department Services. Study Population: Simple random sampling method was selected, the researcher had involved all conscious patients (clinical conditions) from all age groups. Data Collections: Primary data were collected from the survey questionnaires. Secondary data were collected from relevant published journals, articles, research papers, academic literature and web portals. Conclusion: At the 5 % level of significance, the t-test results indicate that there is a significant difference in the responses between before (M=51.11, SD=21.89) and after accreditation (M=58.56, SD=17.28) with p-value <0.001. The mean satisfaction score has improved from before accreditation compared to after accreditation.