Family physician program in Iran, patients satisfaction in a multicenter study.

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is an integral component of service quality and obtaining feedback from patients about quality of primary healthcare is a powerful way to develop more patient-centered approaches to healthcare delivery. The aim of this study was to measure patients' satisfaction with family physician program in central provinces of Iran in the fall of 2010. A cross sectional survey was conducted at 60 medical centers with family physician services at central provinces of Iran. Patient satisfaction was measured by a standardized questionnaire with eight domains: personnel manner, time consumption, guidance and training, cost of services, service adequacy, capability and skills of personnel, adequacy of equipment and amenities. Student t test, Analysis of Variance (AVOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in data analysis. Overall, 76.03% of the respondents were satisfied with the whole performance of family physician program, 76.41% of the respondents were satisfied with the family physicians. The strongest domains of client satisfaction were the manner of staffs and adequacy of equipments. It was shown that high patient satisfaction with the family physician was the most powerful predictor of patients' satisfaction with the program. A considerable proportion of patients are unsatisfied with guidance and training and adequacy of program services. Iranian policymakers can develop better programs based on comments from service recipients and promoting the project and some program processes.