In-Patient Perceptions, Needs, Expectations and Satisfaction within Tertiary Care Settings (original) (raw)

Patient-centered care requires health care providers to recognize and act on patients' genuine needs and expectations. Fulfillment of patients' expectations influences health care utilization, patient satisfaction, and indicates overall quality of care. Most of the patients entering a tertiary care facility have set expectations regarding the nature of treatment, tests, referrals, medications and relevant health care facilities. The present clinical research work aimed at prospectively analyzing factors influencing patient satisfaction at four big teaching hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. The 492 (82%) responded out of 600 inpatients approached .The patients were extensively interviewed regarding the perceived quality of tertiary care. Only 7.90% of the patients perceived the quality of facilities/information prior to admission as excellent. Quality of medicines and treatment was regarded as satisfactory by 26.29% of the patients. The overall follow up care was perceived as go...