Abstract
Patient satisfaction in health care is a combination of need, expectation and the experience of care. It is an intermediate outcome, and may reflect the standard of service the patient received at a health care facility. Health care which does not satisfy the patient, is less effective, because less satisfied patients do not comply with instructions, they take longer to follow up with appointments and they have a poor understanding of their medical condition (Wilkin, Hallam and Dogget, 1994; Al-Assaf, 1998).
Many service providers are motivated by the aim of providing fundamental quality care for their patients and therefore, determining the level of patient satisfaction forms a very important part of managing and fulfulling the patients’ health care needs (Smith, 2001a).
The aim of this study was to assess the level of patient satisfaction and gather data on patient behaviour at the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) Homoeopathy Clinic, as an approach to improve the quality of care at this facility. The information gathered was further intended to demonstrate the quality of health care delivered to the community.
A sample group of one hundred patients was randomly selected from a population of two hundred and one patients who consulted the Technikon Witwatersrand Homoeopathy Clinic from February 2004 to May 2004. The patients’ degree of satisfaction with health care provided at the clinic was obtained by means of a telephonic interview (Appendix A), which explored the patient’s experience at the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) Homoeopathy Clinic.
Most patients had a positive experience at the clinic. Factors that led to a favourable response were: the affordability of the clinic, the quality of the physical exam, the friendliness, the approachability of the senior I I
homoeopathy student and the high level of satisfaction of patients regarding their treatment plan. Areas in which patients expressed dissatisfaction with were: the clinic’s accessibility, the accuracy of their diagnosis, the explanation of their medical condition and the explanation of the homoeopathic case taking procedure.
Areas of health care delivery identified as problematic were: aspects of patient education in homoeopathy, patient education on their diagnosed condition and certain aspects of service delivery. Valuable information on patient behaviour and patient satisfaction was gathered by this study at the TWR Homoeopathy Clinic, which could be utilised to improve areas of health care delivery at the clinic.
Dr. N. Wolf
Dr. S. van Es