Assessment of satisfaction of patients referring dental offices and identification of opportunities for improvements in Fasa, Iran in 2012

Attention to patients’ satisfaction with treatment centers has a major role in management programming in health services. The aim of this study was to determine the level of patients’ satisfaction with dental services in Fasa, Iran.

The present applied study was carried out in a descriptive/analytical manner. A researcher-designed questionnaire with five-scale Likert design, consisting of three sections, was completed through interview. A total of 400 patients were interviewed. Data were analyzed with SPSS 20 and Minitab 16 using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and chi-squared test (α=0.05). Validity of the questionnaire was provided through criterion and content methods. To determine reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated at 0.91.

Of the demographic and contextual variables, there were statistically significant relationships between satisfaction and education, job and sex (p value < 0.001). Correlation coefficient between the patient's overall satisfaction and loyalty index was calculated at 0.673 (p value < 0.05). The key priorities of improvements in dental services were cost of dental services, careful evaluation of the patients, taking patient history and thorough physical examination by a dentist, attitudes and behaviors of the dental office personnel toward patients and respect for them and determining suitable appointments, respectively.

The results of this study showed that patients were satisfied with the services of dentists; however, it appears that by reforming system's defects based on patients’ opinions higher satisfaction rates would be obtained.