Dental patient satisfaction within working class people: Suva city, Fiji

Objectives: Assessing patient satisfaction with the choice of dentist (private and public sector), information relating to pre/post treatment and treatment received. Method: Convenience sampling was used to select a sample of 400 participants (having equal number within the variable being tested against: gender and ethnicity), of working class aged 20 years and above was interviewed, during June-July 2005, within Suva city area. Questionnaire pre-testing was done using test/re-test method to formulate the final questionnaire. Patients reported their level of satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: Participants were less satisfied with treatment provided through dental clinics at public sector (89.9%). Dissatisfaction was higher amongst those who kept on changing dentist (83.3%) compared to those who maintained visits to the same dentist (16.7%). Areas rating excellent satisfaction prior to treatment included: treatment options (20%) and treatment procedure (22%). Majority (38%) did not receive information prior to treatment. Satisfaction post-treatment was greatest with quality of care (27%) and advice given (26%). Majority (26%) were not satisfied with the treatment received. The cause of complaints was low (20%). Majority (90%) of the people lacked knowledge regarding standard complaint procedures. An interesting association was observed with dental satisfaction (μ= 16411.5, P= 0.001, n1= 218, n2= 182, n=400) between the two major ethnic groups. Indo-Fijians chose the extremes of the Likert scale when rating the treatment received, whereas Indigenous-Fijians were highly satisfied. Level of satisfaction was not associated with gender. Timing of treatment and the reason for visit contributed adversely to the level of satisfaction expressed. Conclusion: Findings indicate low level of patient satisfaction within the public sector services. Dentist-patient communication, pre/post-treatment information, public awareness of patient rights and treatment options require improvement.