Patient satisfaction towards health care services provided in Ethiopian health institutions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Henok Biresaw; Henok Mulugeta; Aklilu Endalamaw; Nurhusien Nuru Yesuf; Yibeltal Alemu

doi:10.1177/11786329211040689

Patient satisfaction towards health care services provided in Ethiopian health institutions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Health Serv Insights. 2021 Sep 6:14:11786329211040689. doi: 10.1177/11786329211040689. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Henok Biresaw¹, Henok Mulugeta², Aklilu Endalamaw³, Nurhusien Nuru Yesuf⁴, Yibeltal Alemu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Adult health Nursing, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
² Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Pediatrics and Child Health Nursing, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
⁴ Department of Surgical Nursing, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
⁵ Department of Reproductive Health, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Abstract

The level of patient satisfaction is a direct or indirect measure of services delivered in healthcare institutions. Different primary studies in Ethiopia showed the proportion of satisfied patients toward health services. Patient satisfaction reflects a wide gap between the current experience and the expected services and pushes clients to go to farther located health care facilities and even to more expensive private health care facilities to find quality healthcare services. Inconsistent findings regarding the proportion of patients that are satisfied with the healthcare services in Ethiopia make generalizations difficult at the national level. We have accessed previous studies through an electronic web-based search strategy using PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Embase, and CINAHL and a combination of search terms. The quality of each included article was assessed using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cross-sectional studies. All statistical analyses were done using STATA version 14 software for windows, and meta-analysis was carried out using a random-effects method. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed for reporting results. Out of 188 records screened, 41 studies with 17 176 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included for proportion estimation. The pooled proportion of satisfied patients was 63.7%. Attending a health center (AOR = 2.68; 95% CI = 1.79, 2.85), being literate (AOR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.28-0.64), being younger than 34 years old (AOR = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.28, 2.85), and being divorced (AOR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.38, 0.88) were factors identified as being associated with patient satisfaction. The proportion of patient satisfaction in Ethiopia was high based on over 50% satisfaction scale. The Ministry of Health should give more emphasis to improve hospital health care services to further improve patient satisfaction.

Keywords: Patient satisfaction; meta-analysis; systematic review.