Determinants of Inpatient Satisfaction on Hospital Services in a Government Tertiary Care Center

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a psychological concept which is considered as a judgment of individuals regarding any object or event after gathering some experiences over time. It is one of the established yardsticks to measure the success of the services. Objectives: 1. To assess the level of inpatient satisfaction on hospital services. 2. To find out the determinants of inpatient satisfaction on hospital services. Method: It was a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of four months at VIMSAR, a tertiary care hospital in Odisha in eastern India. A total of 164 patients were enrolled in the study from the five most occupied indoor departments who were administered a pre-tested semi-structured standardised questionnaire by face to face interview method. Results: Majority (77.44%) of respondents were in the age group of 21-60 years. The sample consisted of 65.24 % males and 43.9% were from lower socio-economic class. Patient satisfaction level was found to be relatively low (~80%) for the service domains like housekeeping, general services and ancillary services. Fields like front desk services, medical care, nursing care and laboratory services enjoyed a better satisfaction score (~90%). Binary logistic regression analysis reflected age and socio-economic class to be the negative determinants of the level of satisfaction. Conclusion: About two thirds of the inpatients were satisfied with the services availed at the tertiary care hospital in the five specialities. There is scope of improvement in the areas like housekeeping, ancillary care and general care. Socio-demographic characteristics like age and socioeconomic class inversely related to inpatient satisfaction on hospital services.