Impact of Implementation of NABH Standards on Patient Experience and Feedback about Hospital Services

Abstract

Background: Health care is one of the most important service industry where quality standards need to be maintained for patient treatment and satisfaction. National accreditation boards for hospitals and health care providers (NABH) standards focus on quality, infection control and patient safety. The impact of these standards on patient feedback about hospital services needs to be studied.

Objective: To observe the impact of NABH standards on patient feedback and experiences and patient satisfaction.

Methods: Patient feedback and experience data collected by Quality department of the hospital for the months of October 2018 (before implementation of NABH standards) was compared with data of October 2023 (5 years of implementation of NABH standards) and the data was analysed using statistical tools. The data was analysed and compared separately for Outpatient department (OPD) and In Patient department (IPD) patients.

Results: The data was collected through questionnaire from 400 patients and their relatives (for less than 18 years age patients) each for both months. There was improvement in feedback and experiences for all elements of the questionnaire for both OPD and IPD patients, more significantly for staff behaviour and communication skills of staff. The feedback and experiences for IPD patients were more satisfactory than OPD patients in our study.

Conclusion: NABH standards implementation has a positive impact on patient feedback and experiences leading to greater patient satisfaction. IPD patients are more satisfied with hospital services as compared to OPD patients.

International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 08 No. 01 Jan’24 Page: 44-48