ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To find the differences in patient satisfaction related to dental services among three ethnic groups - Chinese, Indian and Malay - at AIMST University Dental Centre and analyse them with an importance-performance grid, identifying the weak and strong points, in order to provide better service. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This questionnaire-based study consisted of convenience samples of 174 patients of Chinese, Indian and Malay ethnicity. Importance-performance analysis for 20 attributes were compared using Likert's scale. The data obtained were statistically analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Chinese and Indians both emphasised low performance on the interpersonal relationship attribute in terms of the receptionist's courtesy, whereas the Malay participants were concerned with convenience attributes. All the ethnic groups favoured maintaining existing major attributes towards technical competency, interpersonal relationship and facility factors. This study demonstrated priority differences between the ethnic groups' perception of the quality of dental services, where ethnic Chinese showed the highest gap (measure of dissatisfaction) between importance and performance compared to ethnic Malays, followed by ethnic Indians. CONCLUSION: The patients from the three major ethnic groups of Malaysia were generally well satisfied. Perhaps more priority should be placed on improving the interpersonal relationship attribute, especially with the receptionists.
Subject(s)
Dental Care/psychology , Ethnicity/psychology , Patient Satisfaction , Adolescent , Adult , Attitude to Health , Child , China/ethnology , Clinical Competence , Dental Auxiliaries , Dental Care/standards , Dental Clinics/organization & administration , Dental Health Services/standards , Dentist-Patient Relations , Educational Status , Ethnicity/ethnology , Female , Humans , India/ethnology , Malaysia , Male , Marital Status , Middle Aged , Professional-Patient Relations , Quality Assurance, Health Care/methods , Quality of Health Care , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Transformation of health care is underway from sellers' market to consumers' market, where the satisfaction of the patients' need is a primary concern while defining the service quality. Hence, commitment to provide a high-quality service and achieving patients' satisfaction becomes an important issue for dental health care provider. The aim of this research is to investigate the quality of dental health care service based on empathy and responsiveness aspects. METHODS: A total of 90 questionnaires were completed by the dental patients who came to dental polyclinic located in Government Hospital, West Java, Indonesia. The questionnaire was concerned on two dimensions of service quality model, i.e. empathy and responsiveness. The obtained data were analyzed using inferential statistics (t test) and also descriptive statistics with importance-performance analysis. RESULTS: All the attributes tested by t test showed that perception and expectation differed significantly, except for responsiveness, i.e. ability of dental assistants in assisting the dentist (t test 0.505