Patients’ Satisfaction with Diagnostic MRI Services in Teaching Tertiary Care Hospital in Telangana

Introduction: The health care industry is undergoing transformation to meet the demands of the patients. Hospitals are shifting from viewing patients as illiterates and with little health care choice, to that of educated consumer who has wider health care choices. Patient satisfaction is regarded as an important indicator of quality of care and survey is one of the tools for measuring consumer experiences in the hospital. Objective: To study “Patients' perceived satisfaction with diagnostic MRI services” in a Teaching hospital situated in Hyderabad. Materials and methods: A cross–sectional survey, conducted in 200 respondents attending hospital for MRI investigation. Pilot tested, pre-structured, self-completion questionnaire is used to collect data. The data isanalyzed using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences version 10.0.2). Results: The result showed that 79% (n=158) were males and 21% (n=42) females. Among two hundred respondents 54 (27%) were outpatients, 77 (38.5%) inpatients of same hospital, 50 (25%) subjects from private nursing homes, 9 (4.5%) patients from other hospitals and 10 persons not responded. Overall 74.5% of the patients satisfied with the waiting time, 80.5%, 77.5% and 86.5% of the patients satisfied with guidance to reach MRI facility, staff behaviour and staff communication respectively. 85.5% opined that utilization of waiting time by providing information regarding MRI is useful, and 62% of them requested to have trained personnel by their side during the procedure. Conclusion: Hospital administration shall take feedback from patients and their attendants and identify deficiencies and drawbacks in providing services and improve them to their satisfaction which in turn increases indirect publicity of the hospital.