Patient satisfaction surveys in dental school clinics: a review and comparison.

Health care is becoming more patient-centered and, as a result, patients' experiences of care and assessment of satisfaction are taken more seriously. Patient satisfaction influences treatment cooperation, and better cooperation leads to healthier patients in the long term. This generalization clearly applies in the dental school clinic setting. Furthermore, dental school clinics' administrators and clinicians should know about the dimensions of their patient satisfaction in order to provide the highest quality of care. The aim of this study was to review studies published between 1980 and March 2014 to identify the dimensions used to measure patients' satisfaction when they receive services in dental school clinics. The PubMed database was used to access published studies using patient satisfaction surveys in dental school clinics, and the dimensions used in these surveys were then categorized. Through several stages of searching in PubMed, the authors selected 41 articles from a total of 730; after further critical appraisal, nine articles were retained. Five dimensions included in patient surveys were identified: quality, interaction, access, environment, and cost. Determining the dimensions used in patient satisfaction surveys in dental school clinics can assist academic dental institutions in providing the highest quality of care.

Tobacco cessation practices of senior dental students in Iran.

OBJECTIVE: Tobacco use is prevalent in Iran, especially among men. The aim was to assess cessation practices and identify perceived barriers to delivery of tobacco cessation services by Iranian senior dental students. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. SETTING: Iran, Schools of Dentistry, 2009-2010. PARTICIPANTS: 370 (response rate 82%) officially registered senior dental students selected through stratified random sampling. INTERVENTION: Students at 11 dental schools throughout the country completed the survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Students' practice of the US Clinical Practice Guideline 5 As (ask, advise, assess, assist, arrange); interest in training; intention and barriers addressing tobacco use in dental settings. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Respondents were primarily female (67.8%). The students were far more likely to be actively involved in asking, advising and assessing patients to quit than in assisting and arranging. Most respondents (68.5%) agreed that it is within the scope of dental practice to help smokers quit. The most important barriers to providing cessation services included perceived patient resistance (44%) and lack of a supportive organisation (36%). This was the first assessment of approaches to tobacco users by dental students in Iran. Although there clearly is room for improvement, the interest of the students toward tobacco cessation is encouraging.

Dentists' familiarity with tobacco cessation programs in dental settings in Iran.

OBJECTIVES: The current study assessed Iranian dentists' practice, knowledge, perceived barriers, and attitudes toward helping patients to quit. We hypothesized that Iranian dentists would have limited knowledge and awareness of tobacco cessation methods or of their important role in encouraging patients to quit. We expected the combination of quantitative and qualitative research to yield important insights regarding effective methods of engaging Iranian dentists in tobacco intervention. METHODS: From a list of registered dentists following an initial screening, we randomly selected a total of 1,000 dental practices in 10 randomly selected provinces. Following an initial letter describing the study, we mailed a questionnaire. For the qualitative part of the study, we used a convenience purposeful sampling of 16 dentists. RESULTS: Despite repeated contacts, only 35 percent of those contacted returned completed surveys. Key findings not only included generally positive attitudes toward tobacco cessation programs, but also identification of major barriers including concerns about patient resistance, lack of supportive organization, and opportunities for training. Dentists were far more likely to ask patients about smoking than to provide actual cessation support. Female dentists were more likely to ask patients. The qualitative interviews shed further light on barriers to intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Interpretation of the findings is limited by the relatively low response rate. However, despite identified barriers to intervention, we are encouraged by dentists' overall knowledge and interest in tobacco cessation services. We plan to use the current findings to inform development of continuing education programs and incorporation of tobacco cessation counseling into dental school curricula in Iran.