Ghanaian hospital survey links poor inpatient experiences to lower satisfaction

A cross-sectional study of eight hospitals across four regions of Ghana has found that inpatients reported widespread problems with their care, and that these experience gaps were strongly tied to how satisfied patients felt with their hospital stay. The research, published in BMC Health Services Research, interviewed 1,220 adult inpatients who had received care for at least 24 hours between July 2024 and February 2025, using a structured questionnaire built around the Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire-15 together with a global satisfaction item.

The mean inpatient experience problem score was 60.2 percent, which the authors describe as indicating widespread issues. The problems clustered in three areas: patients’ involvement in their own care, communication at the time of discharge, and emotional support. The mean satisfaction score across the surveyed hospitals was 61.2 percent, leaving considerable room for improvement in both how care is delivered and how patients judge it.

The statistical core of the study is the relationship between experience and satisfaction. The researchers found a significant inverse correlation between experience problem scores and satisfaction ratings, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.419 and a p-value below 0.001. In practical terms, patients who reported more problems with their care tended to give lower overall satisfaction ratings, although a correlation of this strength explains only part of the picture rather than the whole.

To identify what drives satisfaction more precisely, the team ran a multiple linear regression. This showed that age, education level, self-rated health status, previous hospital experience, and length of stay all significantly predicted satisfaction, alongside several dimensions of the Picker questionnaire. Together, these variables explained 47.8 percent of the variance in satisfaction scores. That figure is substantial for a patient survey of this kind, but it also means more than half of the variation in how satisfied patients felt remains unaccounted for by the factors measured.

The study’s design carries limitations worth keeping in view. As a cross-sectional analysis, it captures experiences and satisfaction at a single point in each patient’s stay and cannot establish causal direction between experience problems and satisfaction. The sample covers eight hospitals in four regions, so findings may not generalize to all Ghanaian facilities, and the authors note that empirical evidence linking patient experiences with satisfaction in Ghanaian inpatient settings has been limited until now.

The authors argue that the identified gaps point to actionable measures. Their recommendations include integrating shared decision-making into routine care, strengthening patient-provider communication, and enhancing emotional and family support for inpatients. They also propose embedding structured discharge planning, patient feedback systems, and targeted staff training into hospital operations as ways to drive tangible improvements in inpatient care quality in Ghana. Whether such interventions actually raise satisfaction scores in these settings would require future evaluation, which the cross-sectional design presented here does not itself provide.

Subject of Research: Patient experience and satisfaction with inpatient care in Ghanaian hospitals

Article Title: Evaluation of patient experience and satisfaction with inpatient care: insights from Ghanaian hospitals in a cross-sectional analysis

Article References: Kumah, E., Baidoo, M. A., Boakye, D. S., & Penaman, V. A. (2026). Evaluation of patient experience and satisfaction with inpatient care: insights from Ghanaian hospitals in a cross-sectional analysis. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15963-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15963-4

Keywords: patient experience, patient satisfaction, inpatient care, Ghana, cross-sectional study, Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire, health services research, discharge communication, hospital quality, shared decision-making, Evaluation, patient