Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction with Medical Services at Traditional Iranian Medicine Clinics in Tehran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Research Institute for Islamic and Complementary Medicine Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Evaluation of patient satisfaction is a common method used to determine the quality of medical services. This study aimed to assess the level of satisfaction in patients referring to the clinics of traditional Iranian medicine affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 260 patients with history of at least two referrals to the clinics of traditional medicine at TUMS. Subjects completed the Persian version of Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18). Data analysis was performed using T-test, Chi-square, ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

Results:Out of 260 patients with the mean age of 41.01±12.95 years, 104 patients (63.1%) were satisfied, 9 (3.4%) were completely satisfied, 67 (25.8%) were dissatisfied with the medical services, and 20 patients (7.7%) were uncertain. In subscales of access to physician, time spent with doctor, interpersonal manner and overall satisfaction, number of satisfied patients was higher than their dissatisfied counterparts. However, rate of dissatisfaction was higher in subscales of technical quality, communication and financial aspects of care. Moreover, no statistically significant relationship was observed between satisfaction scores and age, gender, education status, type and duration of disease and marital status of the subjects.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, over 60% of the patients were satisfied with the health care services offered at traditional medicine clinics. Insurance coverage for traditional treatments could significantly reduce treatment costs. Furthermore, technical quality and communication skills of practitioners need to be improved through training courses in the field of traditional medicine.

Keywords

Journal of Patient Safety & Quality Improvement
Volume 4, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
January 2016
Pages 313-319

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