CLIENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH ANTI THERAPY SERVICES AT JIMMA SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a major public health problem with an estimated 32.3 million people living with the virus globally. Ethiopia is one of the highly affected countries. Free antiretroviral treatment was initiated in Ethiopia in 2005. Patients’ satisfaction is one of the commonly used outcome measures of patient care. The objective of this study was to assess the satisfaction of people living with HIV/AIDS with services provided at anti retroviral therapy clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital. PATIENT AND METHODS: A health institution based cross-sectional study was undertaken from August 27 to September 10, 2007 on 286 people living with HIV/AIDS following antiretroviral treatment at Jimma University Hospital. Data were collected by trained nurses working in the antiretroviral clinic using English version structured questionnaire, entered in to computer and analyzed using SPSS for windows version 12.0.1. RESULTS: Women had a mean age of 30.5 years while men 35.2 years. For 267(93.4%) of the respondents, the first HIV test was done at governmental health institutions, reason for testing being illness for 252(88.1%). Analyses of measures of satisfaction showed that the scale had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha > 0.75). For most of the questions regarding their satisfaction on the care services in different sections of the hospital, they responded positively (good and above) except for some like recognition of opinions, involving clients in medical decisions and laboratory services which were graded as fair and poor. The overall mean satisfaction score was “GOOD”. CONCLUSION: The services in most sections of the hospital were rated positively (good and above) except for some like recognition of patients’ opinions, involving clients in medical decisions and laboratory services which were graded as fair and poor. The hospital management should work to strengthen the clinic services by helping the ART clinic staff to involve patients in the treatment process and recognize their opinions on follow up. As the least satisfaction scores were seen in laboratory services, the hospital management should also exert effort to improve it.