Healthcare delivery in Bayelsa State through health systems modeling

Abstract

In Nigeria, improving healthcare delivery of course is still exceedingly difficult, in areas with resource-constrained settings like Bayelsa State especially. Indeed, in order to ascertain the factors affecting satisfaction of outpatients as a stand-in for healthcare delivery effectiveness, this research employed a health systems modeling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 200 outpatients at Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa. Multiple regression analysis was then used to evaluate the impact of waiting times, travel times, education levels, and healthcare system capacity and access on patient satisfaction. The statistical techniques: Tukey, Durbin-Watson, Breusch-Pagan, Shapiro-Wilk and Variance Inflation Factors were respectively employed to assess linearity, independence of errors, homoscedasticity, normality and multicollinearity. The robustness of the model was achieved by the diagnostic results, which reveal that the main assumptions were mostly achieved, justifying the reliability of the model. The results from the regression model explain about 42.3% of the variation in outpatient satisfaction and are significant statistically. The biggest positive predictor variable of satisfaction was capacity and access, emphasizing the significance of sufficient staffing, infrastructure, drug availability, and pricing. Service delays were determined as a major constraint in the delivery of healthcare, and waiting times were found to have a considerable negative impact on satisfaction. Travel time revealed a weaker negative influence, whereas level of education significantly did not affect satisfaction once factors of system-level were considered. To maximize healthcare delivery and raise patient satisfaction in Bayelsa State, waiting times must be decreased and the healthcare system's capacity must be strengthened.