Prevalence and Influencing Factors of Medical Dissatisfaction Experiences in Chinese Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study

PURPOSE: To explore the influencing factors of medical dissatisfaction experiences from the perspectives of patients, and provide corresponding strategies for its prevention. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using multistage random sampling, 43 hospitals in three provinces of China were surveyed using a self-designed questionnaire. There were 2065 valid questionnaires analyzed in our study. RESULTS: 46.9% (n = 934) of participants had experienced medical dissatisfaction in the past year, mainly due to poor service quality, cumbersome procedures and high medical costs. There were statistically significant differences in the medical dissatisfaction experiences for these patients with different ages, marital status and levels of education (P<0.05). According to structural equation modelling, health education and media reports had a positive and indirect influence (standardized coefficient = 0.046) on medical dissatisfaction experiences, while there was a negative correlation (standardized coefficient = −0.399) between patients’ social recognition and medical dissatisfaction experiences. Also, our results also found that social relationships had a negative and indirect impact (standardized coefficient = −0.166) on medical dissatisfaction experiences. Besides, health education and media reports had a negative impact (standardized coefficient = −0.115) on patients’ social recognition, while social relationships have a positive effect (standardized coefficient = 0.416) on patients’ social recognition. CONCLUSION: Health education and media reports and social relationships, as antecedent variables, have an indirect effect on inducing the medical dissatisfaction experiences of patients. In addition, patients’ social recognition was an intermediate variable in inducing the medical dissatisfaction of patients.