The satisfaction with health care quality in dental clinics in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

In this work, the overall degree of satisfaction with the health care quality of dentists is analyzed in terms of general satisfaction, technical quality, communication, interpersonal and financial aspects, time spent with the doctor, and health care accessibility and convenience. We have used a standardized questionnaire: “Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire” (PSQ III, long-form). The questionnaire collection was realized in dentists’ waiting rooms from November 2014 to April 2015. Completed questionnaires were obtained from 433 subjects (53.6% were men and 46.4% women). We compared two groups of respondents. In the first group were respondents who had not changed their dentist over the past year (n=349), and in the second were respondents who had changed them (n=84). The highest degree of overall health care satisfaction was seen in males (2.80±0.18), and in the age group of 30–49 years (2.70±0.27). A higher degree of satisfaction with the technical health care quality was seen in subjects who changed their dentists (2.71±0.36). The highest degree of satisfaction with the health care quality was related to the interpersonal aspect (3.29±0.47) and to communication (3.11±0.52). The comparison of the overall health care satisfaction between the two groups of respondents has been confirmed as statistically significant. According to our results, we recommend the national developmental team provide support by implementing positive changes in health care quality, and by performing an approach known as “advanced access”.