Assessment of satisfaction of patients referring dental offices and identification of opportunities for improvements in Fasa, Iran in 2012

Introduction: Attention to patients’ satisfaction with treatment centers has a major role in management programming in health services. The aim of this study was to determine the level of patients’ satisfaction with dental services in Fasa, Iran. Materials and methods: The present applied study was carried out in a descriptive/analytical manner. A researcher-designed questionnaire with five-scale Likert design, consisting of three sections, was completed through interview. A total of 400 patients were interviewed. Data were analyzed with SPSS 20 and Minitab 16 using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and chi-squared test (α=0.05). Validity of the questionnaire was provided through criterion and content methods. To determine reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated at 0.91. Results: Of the demographic and contextual variables, there were statistically significant relationships between satisfaction and education, job and sex (p value < 0.001). Correlation coefficient between the patients' overall satisfaction and loyalty index was calculated at 0.673 (p value < 0.05). The key priorities of improvements in dental services were cost of dental services, careful evaluation of the patients, taking patient history and thorough physical examination by a dentist, attitudes and behaviors of the dental office personnel toward patients and respect for them and determining suitable appointments, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that patients were satisfied with the services of dentists; however, it appears that by reforming system's defects based on patients’ opinions higher satisfaction rates would be obtained.   Key words: Dentist, Health service, Patient satisfaction