Patients' satisfaction with eye care services in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Understanding the patients' perception of services received is essential as the parameters important to the patient may be quite different from that to the eye health provider.

This study aims to evaluate patients' satisfaction with the care received from the pioneer teaching hospital in south-eastern Nigeria and use it to audit services.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was administered to 307 consecutive consenting patients seen at the eye clinic of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu in April 2013. The questionnaire asked questions regarding satisfaction with the time spent in the clinic, attitude of various categories of staff, physical facilities, cleanliness of the clinic and willingness to come again to the clinic or recommend it to others.

The respondents were more satisfied with the attitude of the doctors and nurses than that of revenue and medical records clerks (P = 0.001). Most patients, 288 (93.8%) expressed satisfaction with the overall cleanliness of the eye clinic; 220 (71.7%) and 288 (93.8%) were not satisfied with the toilet facilities and cost of services, respectively. Only 140 (45.6%) participants will recommend the hospital to others strongly, 145 (47.2%) will do so hesitantly.

Majority of the patients were satisfied with the services received. The major dissatisfaction points were cost of services and inadequate toilet facilities.