A study of patient satisfaction level in inpatient spine department of a tertiary care multi-speciality hospital

Background: Patient satisfaction at spine surgery centers is a matter of concern. In specialized surgeries like spine, the satisfaction of a patient is not merely because of surgical outcomes but also empathy of doctor, rehabilitation programs and friendliness of the hospital. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to investigate the prognosis and satisfaction level of patients/relatives operated with spinal surgery. This shall not only help the spinal hospitals to know the ways to improve the patient outcome but methods to provide better services. Material and methods: The study was conducted by carrying out survey amongst 39 patients and their relatives at inpatient department of spine surgical unit by using structured questionnaire and analysing the data using SPSS software. The patients were examined before and after surgery and their VAS (Visual Analogue Score) and ODI (Oswestry Disability Index) were also documented. The SERVQUAL methodology was also studied to understand if it could be implemented in the study to understand better and make the study more conclusive.   Results: The study composed of 39 individuals with an average age of 75.6 +-10.2 years.39 percent of the study group were females and 61 percent males. The ODI score in post-operative stage (18.97+_12.97) was significantly reduced as compared to pre-operative stage (76.66+-17.23) (p<0.05). The VAS score in post-operative stage (1.48 +-1.8) was also significantly reduced as compared to pre-operative stage ( 9.51 +- 0.22) (p<0.05). Ninety-Two percent people were satisfied with the housekeeping services while Ninety-Eight percentage were satisfied with the medical care provided. Ninety-five percentage of people were satisfied by the behaviour of staff and nurses. The nursing department, cleanliness and behaviour of the doctor satisfied 90 percent, 87 and 84.59 percent. The admission and reception satisfied only 66 percentage . The SERVQUAL study was not incorporated because the questionnaire designed through this methodology requires to be administrated by face to face interviews along with moderate to large sample size for statistical reliability.   Conclusion: This study has clearly shown that satisfactory results are obtained after spine surgery. However, the  results are better when performed by a fellowship trained surgeon. Moreover, doctors who spend time in explaining the ailments and possible outcomes to the patients have more satisfactory results. A caring attitude of the staff and empathy in interaction makes a lot of difference in the success of the practice of a surgeon.