Accountability in Healthcare Organizations; A Survey-Based Study among Patients in Government Hospital, Makkah

Background: In recent years, accountability has become a key component of public service reform. Improving accountability has been cited as a factor in improving the health system's efficiency. In health care sector we need to identify the factors influencing accountability in health care organizations those that should be improved. Objective: The goal of this research is to identify the accountability in health care organization from patients’ perceptions. Subjects and Methods: The type of study was a Descriptive “Cross-Sectional Design”. Taken from a special hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. A sample was collected from the 440 patients who was visited in King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) outpatient department by using online self-made survey questionnaires. Results: Considering the patients’ perceptions on health care organization's accountability, most of the participants agree each statement in all dimensions. When proving the hypothesis, the finding shows that there is significant relationship between accountability in healthcare and dimensions such as professionals in healthcare, Government actions, legal and ethical concerns, and administration and management actions. The correlation matrix and regression analysis show that all the four dimensions have strong correlation with accountability in healthcare settings. Conclusion and Recommendations: Health care leaders will be able to implement the findings of this study to new strategic plan to improve accountability of the patients in healthcare settings in Saudi Arabia. In order to institutionalize improvement of patient’s accountability, Policies, organizations, and procedures must be aligned and integrated. The study findings have important in policy makers to maximize their accountability by focusing on quality, processes, information, involvement, and communication to patients This study strongly recommending to for further multicenter comparative study level, which can include government hospitals and private hospitals.