Patient satisfaction with primary health care services in the United Arab Emirates.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the suitability of a patient satisfaction questionnaire to survey health care consumers of traditional Arabic background.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey using an Arabic language questionnaire that drew upon concepts of patient satisfaction measurement in Western research literature. All participants were interviewed once by experienced interviewers to ascertain their levels of satisfaction with their health care service.


METHODS
Patient satisfaction was compared between the only resource-intensive clinic (RIC) in the United Arab Emirates and one resource-thrifty clinic (RTC) located in an adjacent suburb and serving essentially the same population.


METHODS
A random sample of patients attending the RIC and RTC over a 5-day period.


METHODS
Six domains of patient satisfaction were measured.


RESULTS
Compared with the RTC (n = 125), the RIC (n = 156) scored significantly higher in continuity (P = 0.001), comprehensiveness (P < 0.001), health education (P = 0.05), effectiveness (P = 0.001), and overall satisfaction (P < 0.001), while accessibility (P = 0.130) and humaneness (P = 0.102) were not significantly different. Humaneness scored the highest and continuity the lowest at both clinics. Older people's satisfaction was higher for comprehensiveness but otherwise the same as those who were younger. More highly educated people's satisfaction was lower for effectiveness, but otherwise the same as those who were less educated. Men and women had equal levels of satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
The significantly higher patient satisfaction in the RIC compared with the RTC was a strong a priori expectation, suggesting that this satisfaction questionnaire is a useful quality assurance tool in this setting.
Margolis
Stephen A
SA
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. margolis@uaeu.ac.ae
Al-Marzouq
Sumayya
S
Revel
Tony
T
Reed
Richard L
RL
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014479:United Arab Emirates