Assessment of patient satisfaction with primary health care in a military setting: A cross-sectional study from Turkey

Abstract

Background and Aim: Information on patients' experiences with and evaluations of health care is considered an essential outcome indicator to assess the quality of health care. This study aims to evaluate patient satisfaction with primary health care in a military setting. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the primary health care center located in a military setting, in Ankara, Turkey. A total of 3080 military personnel who received primary care in the last 12 months formed the population of the study. Turkish version of the European task force on patient evaluations of general practice care (EUROPEP) questionnaire was administered to the participants. Results: In the study, 2677 participants were reached with a response rate of 86.9%. The mean satisfaction rate (MSR) of clinical behaviour (69.3%) was higher than the MSR of the organization of care (58.4%). The MSR of the overall questionnaire was 67.1%. Significant differences were observed in the mean satisfaction scores of patients according to their descriptive characteristics including gender, age level, troop type, and the doctor providing the care. Conclusions: This study highlights the low patient satisfaction levels, which may have resulted from the fact that the study population was young and relatively healthy, and that there was no possibility of choosing the general practitioner. The EUROPEP questionnaire, which is an internationally validated and standardized instrument, can also be used to improve primary health care in military settings.