Patients Satisfaction With Healthcare Services and Factors Associated With Patient Satisfaction in Selected Primary Healthcare Centers in Jos North L.g.a, Plateau State

ABSTRACT
Majority of Nigerians in the rural areas make use of Primary Health care services but little is known on their satisfaction on the of the quality care they receive from these facilities. The quality of healthcare receive which is expressed in their satisfaction with the care they receive has become an important perspective in the evaluation of health care quality and patient satisfaction. This study aims to assess patients satisfaction with health care services and factors associated with patient satisfaction in selected PHCs Jos North LGA, Plateau State. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was utilized in three selected PHCs in Jos North LGA. Multistage random sampling and convenient sampling was used to select the three PHCs and Patients who attends Out-Patient Department were selected conveniently from each of the PHCs. A Structured Questionnaire whose validity and reliability was established was used for data collection. 201 questionnaires were distributed and 198 was retrieved. Data were analyzed using frequency tables and percentage. Result showed that, majority of the respondents with a grand mean of 3.8 were neutral (neither satisfied nor dissatisfied). However, varying degrees of dissatisfaction with some services was observed such as, the waiting room and waiting time of the PHC, availability of healthcare workers, opening and closing hours and enough seats in waiting room. Majority of the respondents 98.5% agreed with the factors associated with patient satisfaction. The most prominent factors that were associated with the quality of health care services in this study include; availability of health care workers, availability of health care equipment, adequate funding and financial resources and effective communication. The test of hypothesis of this study shows that (t (198) = 2.728, β= .179, p (0.007) < .05, hence the null hypothesis was rejected. This shows that there is significant relationship between patients’ satisfaction and factors associated with patients’ satisfaction. In conclusion, satisfaction of patients with services in PHCs Plateau state has turned out to be an important issue which if properly handled could help educate the government healthcare providers about their shortcomings and achievements, thus making them more responsive to the needs of patients in order to improve their satisfaction.
Key words; Patient, satisfaction, services, quality, factors, Primary Healthcare Center.