Measuring Patient Satisfaction and Factors Affecting it in the General Surgery Setting in Jeddah

Introduction A patient-centered approach is critical to improving the overall quality of healthcare, and this also applies to the general surgery setting. To achieve this, it is important to assess patient satisfaction with healthcare, but this topic has not been investigated in the context of Jeddah. Therefore, the present study is the first one to assess patient satisfaction with care in the general surgery department and associated factors in Jeddah. Methods This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that used a convenience sampling technique to select 307 patients from the outpatient clinic of the general surgery department at King Abdulaziz Medical City from November to December 2018. The cohort comprised 53.1% women and the age range was 18-70 years. For data collection, we used the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction questionnaire, which contains seven items related to the core domains of patient satisfaction. We modified this by adding two additional items reported in other studies. We also included age, gender, and level of education as variables in the analysis. The scores assigned to each item were compared based on gender, age, and level of education. Results The analysis showed that age, gender, or level of education did not affect the overall satisfaction level, and the majority of participants (93.8%) reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied. Specifically, the majority reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the treatment effect, the explanation provided by the clinician, and the care provided at the clinic. Further, the majority of them also felt that they had received a thorough examination and enough time with the consultant, that they felt respected by the healthcare provider and their concerns were heard and respected, and that they were encouraged to voice their feelings and concerns. The lowest score was related to whether the participants felt like their choices were considered when it came to making healthcare decisions. This could, therefore, be a potential area of improvement. Conclusion Overall, the current findings indicate that the practitioners in the current setting use a patient-centered, adult-to-adult approach to healthcare, and the patients are highly satisfied. One area of improvement could be medical decision-making, where patients’ preference could be given more consideration. Thus, these findings provide important insight into patient-centered care in this region.