Assessment of parents’ or guardians’ satisfaction of in-patient health care provided to their children in a single unit at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Patient satisfaction surveys help to measure the staff performance, and it guides to improve the patient retention rate by providing high quality services to the patients.  This study was carried out to assess the parents’ or guardians’ satisfaction of in-patient health care provided to their children and to identify the factors associated with satisfaction. This prospective cross-sectional study was carried out in the Professorial Paediatric Unit, Teaching Hospital Jaffna. A Sample of 165 parents  were interviewed by using a questionnaire. The level of satisfaction was marked by 5-point Likert scale. Data was analysed using SPSSvs 20. Chi square was used to check the association. Out of the total 165 study participants 93.5% were mothers, 44.8% were in the age group of 31-40 years, and 56.2% studied between grade 6 to grade 11.  The mean age of the children was 4.23 years (±3.75) and mean duration of hospital stay was 3.64 days (±2.4). The mean global satisfaction score was 4.93(±0.24), The mean score for the communication with nursing officers and medical officers were 4.85 and 4.87 respectively. For satisfaction of the environment the mean score for cleanliness around the bed and cleanliness of the bathroom were 4.72 and 4.47 respectively. The satisfaction negatively correlated with the educational level of the parents X2 (4, N=165) 16.408, p=0.003, and duration of the hospital stay X2 (3, N=165)1=2.237 p=0.007.