الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 105 |  |  |
| | | from | 105 | | |
Abstract
Patient satisfaction is a measure of the extent to which a patient is content with the health care which they received. Patients’ satisfaction and health care service is mainly dependent on the duration and efficiency of care, and how empathetic and communicative the health care providers. In Alexandria, Egypt, there are two universities which provide services in the field of dentistry, namely the Faculty of Dentistry Alexandria University and the Faculty of Dentistry Pharos University. Each has a set of clinic teaching clinics, where college students provide all dental services to patients under the supervision of faculty members to ensure the proper education and trying to find a balance between meeting the needs of patients and students.
The present study was conducted to assess the level of patients satisfaction with the dental services provided by students of the dental faculties in Alexandria, assess patients satisfaction with patients-dentists interaction,
feeling of technical competency and clinical set up environment.
A cross sectional comparative study was conducted at outpatient dental clinics of Alexandria Faculty of Dentistry and of Pharos Faculty of Dentistry on 400 cases, 200 from each clinic selected at random during the academic year 2016 / 2017. Patients were interviewed using a predesigned questioner of 26 questions to collect data about: patient’s demographic data, appointments procedure, environment facilities, staff –patient relationship and about treatment provided, besides patients were asked about their overall satisfaction with services. Response to each item was scored as 3 likert scale questions ranging from 0 (disagree) to 2(agree) and 1 (unsure).
The study reveals that:
1- Out of total 400 study population, the gender distribution was 56.3% females and 43.8% males with a mean age 40.23±12 years. (35.7%) of a high school, (30.7 %) of an uneducated, and (12.4 %) of an educated.
2- About (80.7%) of total patients were reported overall satisfaction but satisfaction is more reported in dental clinic of Alexandria Faculty of Dentistry (82.5%) compared to (77.5%) in Pharos Faculty of Dentistry dental clinic.
3- The most frequent complains reported in clinics of Faculty of Dentistry in Pharos University were related to the registration process where lack of courtesy and respect from the reception staff, inappropriate appointment and long time spent in registration. Considerable number of patients were not satisfied from their relation with dentists as they felt they did not concern about their complains, beside the long waiting time and the treatment was not completed in time.
4- The clinics, number of visits in the year before, perception about treatment services and appointment process are the predictors of patient’s satisfaction.
Based in the study finding, the following recommendation were suggested:
1- Evaluation of patient’s satisfaction with dental services to uncover patients demand and detect any points of weakness and deficiency in the process of dental care for the purpose of continuous improvement.
2- Adequate training in interpersonal relations is essential in helping overcome communication problems and enabling providers to interact with patients at a more personal level, training should cover all personal providing the services (reception, staff, dental student, nurses)
3- The dentist should discuss with patients the treatment plan, the timetable for completion of treatment and gives the patient a practical idea of the length of time involved.
4- Dissatisfaction with waiting time in the clinic reveals an important problem that needs to be resolved, possibly through limiting the number of patients to reduce the waiting time or by employment of more dental educator and nurses to make it easy for patients to be attended timely.
5- A time should be assigned for dental students of the first and second year of schooling for clinical observation of dental care provided in the clinics to help dental students to understand the various procedures that must be performed.
6- Dentist-patient communication skills should be part of the core curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate dental education and for effective communication to take place.