Patient satisfaction with the quality of care in Ghana’s health-care institutions: A disaggregated approach
International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing
ISSN: 1750-6123
Article publication date: 7 June 2019
Issue publication date: 17 June 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine patient satisfaction with the quality of care in Ghana’s health-care facilities using a disaggregated approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was a cross-sectional national survey. A sample of 4,079 males and females in the age group of 15-49 years were interviewed. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis and t-tests were used in statistical analysis.
Findings
About 70 per cent of patients were satisfied with the quality of care provided in health-care facilities in Ghana, whereas about 30 per cent of patients were fairly satisfied. Females and insured patients were more likely to be satisfied with the quality of care, compared with males and uninsured patients.
Research limitations/implications
Because data were obtained from a national survey, the questionnaire did not include the type of facility patients attended to find out whether satisfaction with the quality of care varied by the type of health facility. Future studies may, therefore, include this.
Practical implications
The study contributes to the literature on patient satisfaction with the quality of care. It highlights that long waiting time remains an intractable problem at various service delivery units of health facilities and constitutes a major source of patient dissatisfaction with the quality of care. Innovative measures must, therefore, be adopted to address the problem.
Originality/value
There is a paucity of research that uses a disaggregated approach to examine patient satisfaction with the quality of care at various service delivery units of health facilities. This study is a modest contribution to this research gap.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Ghana Statistical Service for the permission granted to use the data of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and ICF International, 2015. We are also grateful to the Carnegie Corporation of New York through the University of Ghana’s “Building a New Generation of Academics in Africa (BANGA-Africa) Project” for organizing a write shop which helped complete this paper.
Citation
Abuosi, A.A. and Braimah, M. (2019), "Patient satisfaction with the quality of care in Ghana’s health-care institutions: A disaggregated approach", International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-08-2018-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited