DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i03.002

Pages: 1051-1059

Patient satisfaction is an indicator of health care quality and is considered as essential criteria for its evaluation. In addition to improving health status of the individual it will also reduce financial burden on his/her family. To the health administrator it will reduce the burden on secondary and tertiary levels of care. Quality is an abstraction defining the margin between patient‟s desirability (expectations) and reality (actual experiences). Thus measurement of patient satisfaction stands poised to play an increasingly important role in the growing push towards accountability among health care providers. Studies on quality of care can provide useful inputs to the health planners about lacunae in the existing health care services. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the client satisfaction for health care services and to assess the factors influencing quality of primary health care. A community based cross sectional survey was carried out for three months in urban field practice area of Community Medicine Department, SDMCMSH. Adult population ranging from 18-60 years and those who have recently visited the out-patient department of urban health centre were included. Data was collected using a well designed questionnaire, Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire –18 (PSQ–18), developed by RAND health publication. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive statistics and non parametric tests like Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests were applied. The median age was 31 years (IQR=18.00). More than half of respondents (53.07%) were between ages of 18-32 years, only 16.53% were between 47-60 years.