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Purpose: Understanding the factors that influence the level of patient satisfaction with dental services and identifying the strengths and weaknesses in dental clinics will subsequently increase patient satisfaction and contribute to improving dental care quality. This study aims to evaluate the variables that impact patients' satisfaction with dental services received in specialized dental care centers of the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: Secondary data at the national level from a patient experience program were used in this study. Completed Press Ganey® surveys submitted by patients during the first half of 2022 were included. The effect of the different domains (access to dental clinic, moving through dental visit and dentist) on the overall assessment rating of patient satisfaction was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and multiple linear regression models. Results: A total of 964 surveys were completed and subsequently analyzed. The overall assessment rate of patient satisfaction was 73.4%. All items of the domains showed highly significant correlation levels (P < 0.001). However, the Dentist domain exhibited the highest correlation with the overall assessment rate of patient satisfaction. Conclusion: The dentist acts as the most significant predictor of patient satisfaction.
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Background: Patient satisfaction is crucial for assessing healthcare quality and identifying strengths and weaknesses in healthcare organizations. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) implemented the Patient Experience Measurement Program to enhance patient experience and healthcare quality. This study aimed to identify specific aspects of patient satisfaction with dental visits in Saudi Arabia to improve dental care quality and inform dental services development. Methods: The study used a standardized self-administered questionnaire (Health Links/Press Ganey) and analyzed surveys from patients who visited MOH-specialized dental clinics in Saudi Arabia during the first half of 2022. The dental section comprised 20 questions across five domains, with patients rating their experience on a 5-point Likert scale. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25. Results: A total of 964 patients were surveyed. The overall patient satisfaction with dental settings was 3.61 out of 5.0 (72.2%). The highest satisfaction score was for personal issues with the dental clinic domain (3.93/5; 78.6%), while the least satisfaction score was for access to the dental clinic domain (3.29/5; 65.8%). Among all items, the cleanliness of the facility showed the highest satisfaction score (4.11/5; 82.2%). The least satisfaction was for the ease of contacting the dental clinic (2.71/5; 54.2%). Conclusion: The study found high levels of satisfaction among Saudi patients with dental services provided through MOH facilities across various component domains. This highlights the crucial role of dentists in ensuring high-quality dental care and serves as an indication of the overall healthcare quality in MOH facilities.
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BACKGROUND: Patients' satisfaction is an essential indicator used to measure the quality of healthcare services. The evaluation of patients' satisfaction with primary healthcare center (PHC) visits is therefore essential when it comes to assessing the quality of healthcare services provided. AIM: To assess patients' overall satisfaction with the quality of services provided at PHCs in different regions of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data collected from 2,390 PHCs in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected by the Patient Experience Measurement Program in the Ministry of Health (MOH) using the Press Ganey Survey from January 2022 to December 2022. The Press Ganey Survey is a standardized tool used by the Saudi MOH to assess patients' satisfaction with the health services provided in different specialties and healthcare facilities. The assessment tool (Press Ganey survey) involves six domains (Access, Moving through, Nurse, Care provider, Personal issue, and Overall assessment). The data were tabulated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS: In total, there were 536,406 study participants, with their mean age being 28.7±21.1. The overall patients' satisfaction score was 4.2 out of 5 (83.8%). Male participants reported more satisfaction with PHC services than did females (86.6%, 81%), respectively. The domain with the highest patients' satisfaction scores was that of the Care provider (84.8%), while the domain with the lowest rating was Moving through (82.8%). CONCLUSION: This baseline study found that patients were generally satisfied, with the highest levels of satisfaction with their care providers, highlighting the crucial role of professionals in the patient experience. Further research is recommended to give a more in-depth analysis and thus highlight additional correlating and predicted elements of patients' satisfaction with PHC treatments in Saudi Arabia.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of patient satisfaction with a dentist on their loyalty to that dentist in Saudi Ministry of Health dental clinics. Retrospective data were recruited from the patient experience program (Press Ganey Survey) during the first half of 2022. Descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient (r), and multiple linear regression models were used to assess the impact on loyalty to that dentist. Among the 964 respondents who submitted their responses to the survey, the highest mean satisfaction score was for the item concerning the good listening of the dentist to the patient (3.86 of 5; 77.2%). There was a highly significant correlation between each item related to the dentist and the likelihood of the patient to recommend a certain dentist to others "that is, patient loyalty" (P < .001). The highest predictor of patient loyalty to his dentist was the dentist's explanation of the treatment options to his patient (t: 8.632, P < .001). Dentists have a crucial role to play in boosting patient satisfaction and thereby patient loyalty.
