Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction of Endoscopic Procedures at PEMH Rawalpindi

Objective: To evaluate patients' satisfaction of endoscopic procedures at Pakistan Emirates Military Hospital (PEMH), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methodology: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in the Gastroenterology Department of PEMH, Rawalpindi, Pakistan between November 2022 and November 2023. A modified Group Health Association of America-9 (GHAA-9) questionnaire was utilized. The assessment of satisfaction was based on several factors including assistance of medical staff, technical skills of the physician, an adequate explanation of the procedure, provision of privacy while checked in and waiting, waiting time during the day of the procedure, satisfactory explanation of results, and overall experience for the procedure. The subjects were also asked to grade the pain or discomfort. The chi- square test was employed and p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The average age of patients was 47.5±13.78 years. Out of all the procedures, there were 275 (48.2%) upper GI endoscopy, 134 (23.5%) colonoscopy, 64 (11.2%) ERCP and 49 (8.6%) EUS. Further, 83.9% of the patients were satisfied with the overall experience of endoscopic procedure. The satisfaction rate for experiencing pain or discomfort during and after the procedure was lower than other questions. However, when each question of the survey response was stratified based on gender and age, they were not statistically significant, depicting these two factors were not associated with the satisfaction level except waiting time on the day of procedure (p= 0.006), experienced pain or discomfort after the procedure (p= 0.002) for gender and pain/ discomfort during the procedure (p= 0.021) for age groups. Conclusion: Although most patients expressed satisfaction with the endoscopy performed at PEMH but pain or discomfort during and after the procedure was identified, affecting satisfaction scores. Keywords: Patient satisfaction, Endoscopic procedures, Patient discomfort, Waiting time, Surveys