Satisfaction of Chronic Illness Patients at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a popular way of evaluating quality of health care given in health facilities. This study was done to assess the level of chronic illness Patients’ Satisfaction in Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia. Method: Cross-sectional study was conducted by involving 415 patients using systematic sampling method at Felege Hiwot referral hospital, Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia from 1st September, 2012 to 2nd November, 2012. Structured questionnaire was data collection tool. The questionnaire was prepared in English. It was translated to Amharic and back to English. Discrepancies in the translation were resolved by mutual agreement with the research team. Pre-testing was done prior to the actual data collection process on a sample of 20 respondents and modified accordingly. The study was approved by ethics review board of Bahir Dar University. The collected data were checked for completeness and consistency before being coded, entered and analyzed using SPSS version 19. Result: The overall level of satisfaction of chronic illness patients in this hospital was 242 (58.3%) which is lower as compared to other local studies in Ethiopia. More than 40% of the patients were not satisfied with the service. Conclusion and Recommendations: The current level of patients’ satisfaction in the hospital is totally unacceptable care for a referral hospital situated in the capital city of a region in which more than 20 million people reside. Therefore, there is a need to revisit care given to chronic illness patients, and appropriate strategy should be designed to address the lifelong care needs of patients with chronic illness in our set up.