Original Research Article
Year: 2017 | Month: June | Volume: 7 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 135-142
Patients’ Satisfaction with Dental Care Services Provided by Educational Dental Hospital
Farah S. Tashkandi1, Lama O. Hejazi1, Hanadi S. Lingawi2
1General Dentist, College of Dentistry, Umm Al-Qura University, KSA
2Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Umm Al-Qura University, KSA
Corresponding Author: Hanadi S. Lingawi
ABSTRACT
The Aim: To investigate the level of patients’ satisfaction with the services and dental care provided by the Educational Dental Hospital - College of Dentistry at Umm Al-Qura University (UQUDENT). The second aim was to discover the points of strength/weakness of the services provided by UQUDENT and assess the need for further improvements.
Materials and Methods: This is a questionnaire based cross-sectional analytical observational study conducted over two-months period and data collected from (150) patients at UQUDENT. Twenty-two items concerning; personal data, satisfaction with appointments, facilities, staff, and perception of care received were included in the survey. SPSS software program version 22 was used for the data analysis.
Results: A total of 150 patients agreed to participate in this study, but only 148 completed the questionnaire (2 were excluded due to incomplete data). Of the participants 37.4% were Saudis and 62.6% were Non-Saudis.
Overall ranking of factors related to satisfaction revealed a mean percentage of (88.5%) agreement on the 4 main disciplines, denoting a high level of satisfaction. Areas identified as needing improvement included; appointments’ system, long waiting time, and completing dental treatment in a timely manner.
Conclusion: The majority of the patients were satisfied with the dental care services provided by the educational dental hospital. After mapping points of strength and weakness, it was found that the quality of the delivered dental treatment, professionalism of dental students and staff, communication abilities and explanation of the proposed treatment were the areas of strength. While appointments’ system, long waiting time and completing the dental treatment in a timely manner require attention and improvement as they present the areas of weakness.
Key words: Patients’ Satisfaction, Dental Care Services, Education.