A PILOT STUDY ON EVALUATION OF PATIENT SATISFACTION THROUGH DIETARY SERVICES IN GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL, SECTOR-32 CHANDIGARH, INDIA

Various research studies on hospital food services and patient satisfaction have been conducted globally. The quality of dietary services is one of the important aspects of health care. Indian studies in this field are very few, thus this pilot study was conducted as an insight for a similar future study on a large scale. A cross sectional study was carried out in Government Medical College and Hospital, sector 32, Chandigarh. Fifty-nine patients were selected randomly from private and general wardsmainly Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oncology and Burn unit. A self-structured questionnaire was prepared for assessing satisfaction of the patients regarding food quality and food services. The data was collected and analyzed for all parameters of demographic profile of hospital patients selected, and their interview responses. Most patients (96.3%) were satisfied with the food and food service staff according to their responses. Correlations between most parameters were positive and highly significant at (p<0.01) and (P< 0.05) level. No impact of Age and BMI was seen on any of the variable at 95% confidence level as probability value greater than 0.05. Chi-square test of patient satisfaction responses showed asymptotic significance as p-value was 0.00. Effectiveness of results of this pilot study were understood as potential effectiveness. Focus was on feasibility and not on statistical significance. It also shows that the large-scale study will be feasible without changes in protocol. Confidence intervals showed that the pilot study testing can significantly reduce any flaws in the research approach. Amendments for future study are that the questions are properly framed to ensure that patients eat well, and leave the hospital with improved physical and mental health; and all aspects of dietary services should be well organized.