Patient satisfaction in outdoor department of primary health care facilities in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Perception of patients on healthcare services is important in evaluating the quality of a healthcare structure. Focusing on a major humanitarian emergency in South-East Asia, this research aims to explore patient satisfaction regarding primary health care in Rohingya refugee camps placed in Bangladesh. METHODS: We conducted this cross-sectional study during November 2023 - March 2024 in five randomly selected primary health care centers in five different Rohingya refugee camps of Bangladesh. Upon selection by systematic random sampling method, 810 outdoor patients were interviewed in-person by trained data collectors. We utilized a structured questionnaire based on the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (PSQ‑18) of Marshall and Hays. We analyzed completed response of 723 patients by IBM SPSS (v. 27) checking normality and internal consistency. Mean, standard deviation and percentage were generated for all dimensions of patient satisfaction including all PSQ-18 items. Finally, we used Kruskal-Wallis test and multivariate linear regression to explore differences and associations between patient characteristics and different dimensions of patient satisfaction. RESULTS: With major responses from 18-39 years (68.7%), female (81.1%) and Rohingya ethnicity (96.8%), overall satisfaction was found among nearly 90% patients. Domain of interpersonal manner received highest satisfaction (95.93%) whereas the lowest was observed in accessibility and convenience (84.50%) with minor variability across different satisfaction dimensions. Ethnicity, key source of household income, type of visit and perception of type to illness were found as significant predictors in most satisfaction domains (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded this study with high satisfaction in outpatient care of Rohingya camps. Therefore, focused interventions should be adopted by policymakers for maintaining the high content in patients with additional attention in domains of less patient satisfaction. Extended and periodic evaluation of patient satisfaction should be conducted for upgrading the health system of Rohingya humanitarian emergency in a patient-centric approach.