Patient satisfaction with anaesthesia services and associated factors at the University of Gondar Hospital, 2013: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Patient satisfaction is the degree of fulfilling patients’ anticipation which is an important component and quality indicator in anaesthesia service. It can be affected by anaesthetist patient interaction, perioperative anaesthetic management and postoperative follow up. No previous study conducted in our setup. The aim was to assess patient satisfaction with anaesthesia services and associated factors. METHODS: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted from April 15–30, 2013 at the University of Gondar referral and teaching hospital. All patients who were operated upon both under general and regional anaesthesia during the study period were included. Standardized questionnaire used for postoperative patient interview. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) window version 20. Chi Square test used to assess the association between each factor and the overall satisfaction of patients. The proportion of patients who said they were satisfied with anaesthesia services was presented in percentage. RESULTS: A total of 200 patients were operated upon under anaesthesia during the study period. Of these, a total of 156 patients were included in this study with a response rate of 78 %. The overall proportion of patients who said they were satisfied with anaesthesia services was 90.4 %. Factors that affected patient satisfaction negatively (dissatisfaction level and p value) were general anaesthesia (12.6 %, P = 0.046), intraoperative awareness (50 %, P = <0.001), pain during operation (61.1 %, P = <0.001), and pain immediately after operation (25 %, P = <0.001) respectively. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Patient satisfaction with anaesthesia services was low in our setup compared with many previous studies. Factors that affected patient satisfaction negatively may be preventable or better treated. Awareness creation about the current problem and training need to be given for anaesthetists.