Assessment of the level of patient satisfaction in Homoeopathy using 12 Item Japanese Short-form Satisfaction Questionnaire: A cross-sectional study

To strengthen the health care services, it is important to know the patients’ satisfaction about the quality of health care they are getting exposed to, in different modes of treatment. There are a few studies on the topic but are mostly related to modern medicine. It is desirable to make such efforts in other systems of medicine in view of recent emphasis of the Govt of India for the use of AYUSH. The present paper aims to present findings of a pilot study examining the usefulness of 12-item Japanese short-term self-administered questionnaire and the level of patient satisfaction following homoeopathic healthcare encounters. The pilot study was conducted in the OPD (out-patient department) of Bakson Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Greater Noida (BHMC&H) to understand and estimate patients’ satisfaction related to health care service. The study was cross-sectional of 81 newly enrolled patients in the Hospital’s OPDs by using a bilingual 12-Item Japanese short form self-administered consultation questionnaire. The questionnaire appeared to be reliable and valid. The internal consistency scores of Cronbach’s Alpha range between 0.62 – 0.93. Most of the patients have given positive feedback against all the dimensions/ subscales related to patient’s care. It is recommended to conduct further longitudinal surveys with greater sample size in an AYUSH health care set up as being emphasized by the present national programme effort.