Patient's satisfaction at outpatient pharmacy department in Intermediate Hospital Oshakati, Oshana region, Namibia

Introduction: Patient waiting time Experience of waiting time in general is perceived as complex, subjective and culturally influenced. Complexity of prescription, few human resources and work process are the factors of patient waiting time in outpatient pharmacy departments (OPD). However, the complexity of wait time is poorly understood and has been explored only to a limited extent.

Objective of the study: The main objective of this study is to assess patient satisfactions on waiting time at Intermediate Hospital Oshakati (IHO), northern part of Namibia.

Method: The study was carried out at IHQuantitative descriptive design was employed and data collected was analyzed using Epi info version 7. 

Results: The mean waiting time in IHO was 36±20 minutes. More patients (49.2%) were satisfied with OPD pharmacy when the waiting time is between 5-25 minutes. The major factors associated with the satisfaction of services were shorter waiting time (0.01 <p<0.05) and other personal reasons like long distance from the hospital (0.03<p<0.05).     

Conclusion and recommendation: Many patients are satisfied if waiting time is between 5-25 minutes, therefore there is a need to improve waiting time by decongest patients overload at IHO, this can be achieved by improving coordination and communication between IHO and Primary health care (PHC) facilities.