Patient Satisfaction Survey on counselling in
Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai

Priya Adhiseshan MBA (HHSM)
Fellow in Eye Hospital Management
Aravind Eye Care System

INRODUCTION:
For patients a visit to a hospital is often a new experience. Though interactions with patients seem routine to the hospital staff, the experience of receiving health care is not routine to the patients. The attention, attitude, and the information the hospital staff provide are very important to the patients. So there is a need for counselling.

Definition:
Counselling is a direction to a person who is in need of help.
This is more appropriate in eye care counselling.

Need for counselling in eye care:
In the eye care set up counsellor work as a facilitator

  • To bring change.
  • To help the patient take away anxieties and apprehensions.
  • To get things clearer.
  • To facilitate to make decision.
  • To improve the acceptance level.
  • To improve the patient satisfaction
  • To improve the social marketing
Objectives of this survey:
  1. To measure counselor performance
  2. To get suggestions from patient to improve Counselling
  3. To increase follow up rate
  4. To highlight the importance of Counselling for patient satisfaction.
Methods:
We chose a convenience sample of Fifty three Patients of Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, participated in a study to elicit their experiences about Counselling services in the hospital through a postal questionnaire survey.

Results:
After analyzing the data we got the following results.
  • 81% of respondents said that counselor introduces herself to them and 19% of respondents said that counselor did not introduce herself.
  • 47% of respondents are highly satisfied, 41.5% of respondents are satisfied, 4% of respondents have moderate felling & 7.5% of respondents are dissatisfied regarding the explanation given by the counselor about their complication/problem.
  • 53% of respondents are highly satisfied, 30.5% of respondents are satisfied, 5.5% of respondents are having moderate opinion, and 5.5% of respondents are dissatisfied regarding explanation given by the counselor about the need and importance of Treatment.
  • 75% of the respondents are Very Clear and 19% of respondents are Not Clear of Counselors explanation about the cost of treatment/procedure.
  • 85% of the respondents are very clear and 9% 0f the respondents are not clear of explanation about the dosage of medicine/drops.
  • 89% of the respondents are got their doubts cleared by the counselor and 11% of the respondents
  • 89% of respondents are Very Clear and 9% of the respondents are Not Clear about the importance of follow-up care.
  • 81% of the respondents are said that the counselor asked their convenience while giving date for follow up and 17% the respondents are said that the counselor had not asked their convenience while giving date for follow up.
  • 92% of the respondents are Very Clear about the date and time of their follow up and 6% of the respondents are Not Clear about the date and time of their follow up.
  • 55% of respondents are highly satisfied, 24.5% of respondents are satisfied, 15% of respondents are having moderate opinion and 5.5% of respondents are dissatisfied with the time spent by the counselor with them.
Conclusions:
The over all satisfaction level of patients about Counselling services is highly satisfied. Doctors are spending less time to the patients. Patients can clear all of their doubts with the counselor. As a result of this survey we came to know that counselling placing an important role in the patient care.