Patient satisfaction with primary health care services in Riyadh

OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of patients' satisfaction with primary health care PHC services in health centers affiliated to Riyadh Military Hospital RMH, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 3 PHC centers, affiliated to Riyadh Military Hospital RMH, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, over 2 months period in 2006, data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire to assess patients' overall satisfaction with PHC services and their level of satisfaction with 5 PHC domains: reception services, accessibility, continuity of care, communication, and enablement.

RESULTS: Seven hundred questionnaires were distributed yielding 86.6% response rate, 39.6% of our patients were 20-30 years old, 51.5% of the respondents were females, 76.4% were married and 34.5% of them showed a medical visit frequency of a minimum of 8 times per year. The domains of PHC with the highest level of reported satisfaction was enablement 70.6%. The poorest level of satisfaction was at the continuity of care 56.3%. The mean score of satisfaction with reception was 70.0%, communication 69.2%, and accessibility to care was 62.4%. The overall satisfaction level was 64.2%. Patients of older age were more satisfied with PHC services than their younger counterparts p-value <0.001 and patients with lower education level were more satisfied p-value<0.001. Patients' satisfaction was inversely related to their average annual visit frequency to PHC centers p-value =0.015. There was no relation found between patients' satisfaction and their gender, marital status, occupational status, and their average monthly income.

CONCLUSION: The level of satisfaction with PHC services in health centers affiliated to RMH is relatively low, results identified areas in which quality improvement is required, mainly accessibility and continuity of care.