Measuring the level of patient's satisfaction for those attending primary health centers versus family medicine centers in Basrah governorate

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction is defined as the total judgments made by the recipient of a healthcare as to whether -or not- their expectations have been met. It is an important measure of healthcare quality as it offers information on the provider’s success to meet the clients’ expectations.The Study Objectives: The study aimed at measuring patient's satisfaction in primary health centers of Basrah governorate with a comparison between primary health centers that follow family medicine strategy versus general primary health centers.Methodology: It's a cross sectional study involved patients attended primary health care centers in Basrah governorate during June 2016.Standard check lists and questionnaires from Iraqi Ministry of Health were used to measure five main indicators of patient satisfaction including: appearance, credibility, responsiveness, security and empathy with a four likert scale to measure the satisfaction of patient. A total sample included 456 patients. Results: The lowest Cronbach's coefficient alpha value was found by the study to be in the "general appearance" dimension which included the general infrastructural appearance of the health facility with appropriate waiting areas for the attendees, cleanliness and lighting of the facility in addition to the general look and appearance of the health workers and service providers. While “assurance” dimensions shows the highest percentage of satisfaction. In addition, no significant difference was revealed for the chosen satisfactory dimensions between the health care centers providing family-medicine services compared to those with no family-medicine ones.Conclusions: The study remarks important weaknesses in some of the patient satisfactory dimensions including general appearance, responsiveness, apathy and assurance. However, it provides an evidence of having no significant difference for the chosen satisfactory dimensions between the health care centers providing family-medicine services compared to those with no family-medicine ones.