Patient satisfaction with emergency care services accessed at selected public health facilities in Nairobi City County: patients’ perspective

Abstract

Access to emergency medical services is portrayed in the light of the truth as the capacity of the affected individual to get the perfect health attention from the wellbeing pro associations once they need it. It is an extensive length of access to medical care that requires an effective evaluation of genuine, financial and socio insightful get right of access to organizations. The aim of the study was to examine the patient satisfaction with emergency care services accessed at selected public health facilities in Nairobi City County, the purpose was to generate knowledge about improving efficiency in the delivery of emergency care in public healthcare facilities. Nairobi City County public health facilities were conveniently selected because of the high volume of patient throughput. Systematic sampling was done to identify the respondents. Descriptive cross-sectional assessment configuration was utilized where quantitative method was utilized for information gathering. Information was collected, recorded for a fourth of a year, and analyzed at p ≤ 0.05 primer of significance utilizing SPSS quantifiable gathering. The relationship between variables was tried utilizing Cronbach’s alpha values and the outcome appeared in diagrams and tables. Purposive sampling was utilized to pick the domain. The main data collection tool was the questionnaire, which included the background information, as well as a structured questionnaire enquiring about the participants’ perception of the emergency care activities. Information was gotten from a sum of 304 respondents utilizing data collection administered audit and the information obtained from them formed the basis of research data, the analysis was done using SPSS V27 and presented utilizing tables and charts. In context on the assessment exposures, it was established that crisis care patients were normally disappointed with emergency care services delivered. This was attributable to low activity by the physicians during emergency care delivery; lack of timely access to emergency healthcare due to long waiting times, low quality of care during emergencies and; lack of guaranteed healthcare facilities that could provide immediate emergency care as, and when needed, which could thwart access to emergency healthcare and therefore, satisfaction of patients with emergency healthcare. There was also low acceptability of emergency healthcare by patients, poor infrastructure therefor no ease of access. Pearson correlation shows that there was statistically significant relationship between X1 physician’s action (r=.257**, p<0.001), X3 quality of care (r=.235**, p<0.001) and X4 access to emergency healthcare facility (r=.268, p<0.001) and patients’ satisfaction with EHC. However, X2 waiting time had no significant relationship to patients’ satisfaction with EHC services (r=304, p>0.001). These findings show that physician’s action was the strongest factor that could enhance patients’ satisfaction to emergency healthcare services according to the emergency care patients. Conversely, quality of healthcare and emergency healthcare facility was equally strong. Based on the findings, several recommendations can be made; Physicians should be specifically trained to enhance patient experience during the emergency care delivery and supported by being given enough equipment enhance access to EHC; There should be a proper Management support framework in the emergency care to enhance quick access of patients so as to boost faster access to EHC; there should be adequate dissemination of required information to the physicians in order to improve quality of care and finally, There should also be effort to increase access to EHC services through provision of enough transport such as ambulances, and comfortable healthcare facilities to handle all types of emergencies, whether of medical or trauma nature.