Patients' Satisfaction and Quality of Care Received at The Out-Patient Clinic in A Community-Built Geriatric Centre South-West Nigeria: A Patient Centred Clinical Practice experience

Abstract

Background: Although patient satisfaction is a subjective evaluation of the services received in a health facility, is an essential ingredient of clinical auditing. The overall satisfaction depends on the different domains of quality-of-care, availability of technical facilities, the financial cost of care, the skill of the health care provider, the patient-doctor communication, time spent in the facility, the general attitude of the physician, accessibility and convenience of the health facility. This is most achievable in a family clinical practice.

Methods: A cross sectional study of 422 older adults who attended a geriatric centre, Ilesa, Osun State (IGC) over a period of eight weeks was conducted. It is a one-stop shop Multiclinic having GOPC eye clinic, SOP, dietetic and Dental clinic with laboratory facilities. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to obtain demographic and clinical information using a systematic random sampling technique. Data were cleaned, coded, entered and subsequently analysed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done for all variables. P values <= 0.05 were considered statistically significant at a 95 percent confidence interval (CI).

Results: The mean age(±SD) of the respondents was 71.62±80.4 years, age range of 60–69 years (41.9%). They were predominantly female (56.9%); married (63.3%); Christians (92.2%), and of Yoruba ethnicity (98.1%). Almost three-quarters (75.8%) earned ≥ ₦30,000 monthly. Retirement benefits and family contributions constituted 45.3% and 37.9% of current sources of income respectively. Spouses constituted 64.9% of primary caregivers. Cardiovascular, together with musculoskeletal conditions, were the frequent patterns of multimorbidities (72.0%). The overall patient satisfaction is 99.8%, highest rating in accessibility and convenience.

Conclusions: The overall satisfaction is high with the care provided at a stop-shop multi-clinic, as regards accessibility and convenience. It is recommended to have more of this type of centre across the nation.