Quality of Care for Pediatric Leukemia Patients at a Hospital in Sana’a as Perceived by Patients’ Attendants

Abstract

Introduction: Quality of health care services can be measured through assessing patients' satisfaction. Therefore, to evaluate the health care quality, it is important to measure patient's attendant perceptions. SERVPERF questionnaire is used to evaluate health care. It has five dimensions: assurance, empathy, reliability, tangibility, and responsiveness.

Aims & Objectives: This study aimed to measure the quality of health services provided to patients in the Pediatric Leukemia Center at Al-Kuwait University Hospital in Sana'a as perceived by patients' attendant using SERVPERF questionnaire.

Place and duration of study: Pediatric Leukemia Center, Al-Kuwait University Hospital, Sana'a, Republic of Yemen; for one year from 03/06/2018 to 02/06/2019.

Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted after approval from Faculty of Medicine Sana'a University. Informed consent was taken from 145 participants. Modified SERVPERF questionnaire was used after validation (Cronbach's alpha 0.92). Response rate was 93.7% and 136 questionnaires were analyzed. The questionnaire had 11 questions related to the demographic data of the patient and attendant, followed by 38 questions (with scale from

1 to 5) related to five dimensions of quality health service; reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0.

Results: Mean±SD scores of the reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility dimensions were 3.90±0.51, 4.20±0.56, 4.33±0.54, 4.03±0.7, and 3.57±0.73 respectively. The highest score was for the assurance dimension and the lowest was for the tangibility. There were no significant differences in patients' attendants perceptions attributed to gender, age and education.

Conclusion: This study shows high scores in the assurance, responsiveness, and empathy dimensions but lower scores in the reliability and tangibility dimensions. This indicates the need for logistic support, equipment, and medications for the center.