Effect of Family Physician Qualification on Patient Satisfaction in King Abdul-Aziz National Guard Hospital Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia 2017

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Family Medicine department at King Abdul-Aziz Hospital in Al-Ahsa between January 15 and February 8, 2018. It aimed to measure patient satisfaction with health services and physicians, and to assess the effect of physician qualification on patient satisfaction via a self-administered questionnaire. In total, 351 randomly selected questionnaires, completed during the printing of discharge summary papers, were analyzed. Proportions of patients who were satisfied with primary healthcare services and physicians were 88.6 % and 96.4 %, respectively. Patient satisfaction with primary healthcare services provided by board-certified physicians was higher relative to that observed for noncertified physicians (AOR 2.4, P =.04, 95 % CI 1.045.55). Patients treated by board-certified physicians were significantly more satisfied with their physicians relative to those treated by noncertified physicians (AOR 2.7, P =.04, 95 % CI 1.037.2). These results indicated that physician qualification influenced patient satisfaction.