Patients' Satisfaction With the Quality of Services at Primary Healthcare Centers in Saudi Arabia

Shahad M Alhajri; Najla M Aljehani; Mervat M El Dalatony; Saleh S Alsuwayt; Turki M Alhumaidany; Mohammed S Aldossary

doi:10.7759/cureus.45066

Patients' Satisfaction With the Quality of Services at Primary Healthcare Centers in Saudi Arabia

Cureus. 2023 Sep 11;15(9):e45066. doi: 10.7759/cureus.45066. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Shahad M Alhajri¹, Najla M Aljehani², Mervat M El Dalatony^{1

3}, Saleh S Alsuwayt⁴, Turki M Alhumaidany⁵, Mohammed S Aldossary¹

Affiliations

¹ Research and Studies General Department, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, SAU.
² Public Health Department, College of Health Sciences, The Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, SAU.
³ Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin Elkom, EGY.
⁴ Family Medicine Department, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, SAU.
⁵ Patient Experience Department, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, SAU.

Abstract

Background: Patients' satisfaction is an essential indicator used to measure the quality of healthcare services. The evaluation of patients' satisfaction with primary healthcare center (PHC) visits is therefore essential when it comes to assessing the quality of healthcare services provided.

Aim: To assess patients' overall satisfaction with the quality of services provided at PHCs in different regions of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data collected from 2,390 PHCs in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected by the Patient Experience Measurement Program in the Ministry of Health (MOH) using the Press Ganey Survey from January 2022 to December 2022. The Press Ganey Survey is a standardized tool used by the Saudi MOH to assess patients' satisfaction with the health services provided in different specialties and healthcare facilities. The assessment tool (Press Ganey survey) involves six domains (Access, Moving through, Nurse, Care provider, Personal issue, and Overall assessment). The data were tabulated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Results: In total, there were 536,406 study participants, with their mean age being 28.7±21.1. The overall patients' satisfaction score was 4.2 out of 5 (83.8%). Male participants reported more satisfaction with PHC services than did females (86.6%, 81%), respectively. The domain with the highest patients' satisfaction scores was that of the Care provider (84.8%), while the domain with the lowest rating was Moving through (82.8%).

Conclusion: This baseline study found that patients were generally satisfied, with the highest levels of satisfaction with their care providers, highlighting the crucial role of professionals in the patient experience. Further research is recommended to give a more in-depth analysis and thus highlight additional correlating and predicted elements of patients' satisfaction with PHC treatments in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: patient experience; patient satisfaction; patient-centered care; primary healthcare centers; quality of healthcare; saudi arabia.