Association Between Minimum Service Standards and Patient Satisfaction in Outpatient Departments of Nepal's Government Hospitals.

Authors

Janardan Pathak, Abigail Knoble, Md Kashim Shah, Rabindra Bhandari, Archana Amatya, Ruma Rajbhandari

Published in

Journal of Nepal Health Research Council. Volume 24. Issue 1. Pages 49-59. Aug 03, 2026. Epub Aug 03, 2026.

Abstract

Nepal's Minimum Service Standards (MSS) tool assesses structural readiness of government hospitals but its relationship to patient satisfaction is unknown. We evaluated how well MSS scores correspond to outpatient satisfaction and patient reported gaps in the quality of services.
A cross-sectional mixed-methods study utilized 839 patient satisfaction surveys conducted from July 2021 to May 2024 across 57 government hospitals, then linked responses to retrospective hospital-level MSS scores. Overall satisfaction was modeled with an ordinal mixed-effects logistic regression with hospital-level random intercepts. For qualitative insights, six hospitals were purposely sampled for six focus group discussions with OPD staff and six interviews with hospital leaders. Transcripts underwent thematic content analysis, and quantitative and qualitative findings were triangulated.
Each 1% rise in OPD MSS score increased satisfaction odds by 3% (OR?1.03, 95?%?CI?1.02-1.05; p?The MSS tool effectively reflects readiness in tangible aspects like cleanliness and equipment but fails to reflect gaps in privacy, human resources, and medicine availability. Addressing these misalignments is crucial to ensure that the MSS tool effectively addresses quality of care.

PMID:
42638252
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2026.

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