[Evaluation of Patients' Satisfaction in the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo]

Introduction: Patients' satisfaction is an important component of health care quality evaluation. Patients and physicians are now care partners. This new relationship deserves to be evaluated. Our study aimed to evaluate the satisfaction of patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study with a single data collection phase of all the patients hospitalized from 1 January to 30 June 2014. We administered SAPHORA questionnaire adapted to suit our context. The scores and the satisfaction rates were calculated according to the studied parameters.

Results: During the study period we collected data from 230 patients. The mean hospitalization time was approximately 10 days. 125 (53.2%) men were enrolled in the study, sex ratio was 1.1. 32% (n = 75) of patients were unschooled. Public servants accounted for 24.3% (n = 57) of our study population. The average age of our sample was 50.7 years. Patients over the age of 65 years accounted for 25.6% of the study population. 113 (48.1%) patients had been admitted as medical emergencies. 21 patients (8.9%) had a history of hospitalization in the Depatment of Cardiology. Dilated cardiomyopathy was the diagnosis made during hospitalization in 75 (32%) cases. The overall score of satisfaction of the patients treated in the Department of Cardiology was 78.3%. Satisfaction score on hospital admission was 68.1% and on patients' comfort was 65.8%. Satisfaction score on health care quality and on hospital discharge planning was 84.7% and 84.5% respectively. Patients' suggestions for improvement were based on comfort during hospital stay in 99 (42.1%) cases and on staff identification in 176 (74.9%) cases.

Conclusion: The evaluation of the satisfaction is infrequent in our country. It is becoming increasingly frequent in western countries using common and validated tools. It is an important aspect that our hospitals should include in order to increase quality approach to accreditation.