Customers’ Satisfaction toward OPD Service at Somdejphraphuthalertla Hospital, Muang District, Samutsongkram Province, Thailand

Abstract

Somdejphraphuthalertla Hospital, the biggest public hospital in district level located in the center of Muang city, Sumtsongkarm Province,  Thailand is using customers’ complaint and suggestions to assess their healthcare services; however, the hospital has never assessed clients’ satisfaction by doing a survey to discover their problems and evaluate their quality of performances. A cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2013, to evaluate level of customers’ satisfaction towards out-patient department (OPD) service at Somdejphraphuthalertla  Hospital. A structured self administrated questionnaire was used for data collection among 400 respondents who visited the OPD at General Medicine Department, Somdejphraphuthalertla Hospital. The study revealed that  score of satisfaction to the hospital environment, service process, personality of staff and waiting time from six nodes of services ranged from 1-5 (1= very dissatisfied, 5= very satisfied). In hospital environment, the highest average score was 4.05 for safety. In service process, the highest average score was 4.04 for diagnosis and treatment plan. The highest average score in personality of staff was 4.10 for primary doctors. In waiting time, the highest average score was 3.75 for payment and universal coverage. There was a significant (p < 0.05) relation between personal profile and satisfaction to hospital’s environment, service process, personality of staff and waiting time. In conclusion, the traveling and hospital environment were influencing factors to the level of satisfaction while the service process, personality of staff and waiting time were three aspects to answer the research questions and objectives of this study. The level of satisfaction toward OPD services in overall was high (94.2%) and 99.0% of respondents indicated that they will return to use the hospital services in future.