Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the satisfaction level of patients with dental services. Methods : The subjects in this study were 200 patients at three different dental clinics in South Gyeongsang Province, on whom a survey was conducted from June 1 to July 31, 2009. The collected data were analyzed, and the findings of the study were as follows. Results : In regard to the general characteristics of the patients investigated, the women(61.5%) out-numbered the men. By age, those who were at the age of 30 and down made up the largest age group(47.0%). By academic background, the greatest group received junior-college education(54.0%). By occupation, the company employees constituted the largest group (50.5%). By income, the greatest group earned an income of 2 to 2.99 million won(75.0%). Second, as to connections between the characteristics of dental treatment and the reason of choosing the dental clinics, the largest group(70.4%) chose the dental clinics by word of mouth or the recommendation of others. Concerning the reason of dissatisfaction, the biggest group(72.7%) was unsatisfied with medical costs. As for the degree of explicit complaint, the greatest group(49.7%) sort of complained about what made them dissatisfied. Regarding the type of treatment, the biggest group(49.0%) received prosthodontic treatment. In relation to fear for dental treatment, the largest group(34.0%) feared receiving the treatment, and the biggest group(42.6%) did that due to the sound of machines. Third, satisfaction with services(0.762) had the closest correlation to overall satisfaction level, followed by satisfaction with employees(0.735), satisfaction with dentists(0.644) and satisfaction with convenient facilities (0.579). Fourth, the factors that affected overall satisfaction level were gender, the reason of choosing the dental clinic, satisfaction with dentists, satisfaction with employees, satisfaction with services and satisfaction with convenient facilities. The patients who were better satisfied with services(p<0.001), who were more contented with dentists(p<0.001), who chose the dental clinics by the recommendation of others(p<0.01), who were male(p<0.05), who were more gratified with employees(p<0.05) and who were more contented with convenient facilities expressed better overall satisfaction. Conclusions : The above-mentioned findings suggested that dental institutions should keep track of the expectations of patients to prepare differentiated strategies for marketing and human-resources development in consideration of their own circumstances to boost the satisfaction level of patients. Specifically, it's required to heighten the satisfaction level of patients with dentists.
