Improvement of patient satisfaction by root cause analysis in health care services for urban slum community in North India

Abstract

Universal health care (UHC) endorses availability and access to health care services for a wider population with equity and quality in a way that protects them from financial hardship while availing the services. This case study shares the experience of a health facility in a resource constraint setting catering to the health needs of a migrant residing in an urban slum of north India. Out-of-pocket expenditure is one of the major reasons for nonachievement of UHC. "Root cause analysis" revealed the challenges for patient satisfaction in the academic outpatient clinic (OPD). Inadequate availability of laboratory investigations at health facilities poses hindrances during health service delivery and achievement of UHC. It was found that one of the major reasons for patient's dissatisfaction were out of pocket expenditure at private facilities and loss their daily wage to get access to the investigations. Problem-solving techniques were utilized to improve patient satisfaction and make the health system sensitive to the migrant urban poor population. The use of "plan do study act cycle (PDSA)" technique for improvement of the health system with collaboration, advocacy, and feedback analysis with the government hospital helped improve health care access for the people with poor purchasing power. Feedback analysis of the established system helped in the sustainability and feasibility of the system for the smooth functioning of the referral system. Root cause analysis, health advocacy, and collaboration has helped making a model for improvement of access to health care services and patient satisfaction in an urban slum population. which maybe replication in a resource constraint setting.

Keywords

• advocacy
• collaboration
• health system research
• root cause analysis