Abstract
Background: Patients' satisfaction is one of the most important measure for evaluating performance of healthcare services, in any society. The assessment holds vital importance and especially holds great relevance especially during the post corona lockdown period. This present study was carried out with an objective to assess the patient satisfaction with dental services and referral post Covid 19 lockdown.
Methods: This questionnaire based cross sectional study was conducted at Dentistry department of both Majmaah and Zulfi on a sample of 400 participants who were randomly selected for the study and were distributed questionnaires. Out of them, 390 responded after for which the data was collected between Aug - Nov 2020. The questionnaire prepared had two main sections, namely demographic characteristics as well as satisfaction with respect to both dental services as well as referral procedures. T test were used to compare means of satisfaction.
Results: 63.58% males & 36.42% females with more than 81% over 18 years of age participated in the study with over 55% having college education or more. On assessing overall satisfaction with relation to various parameters it was found a majority (73 %) affirmed positively with different services parameters namely, environment, cleanliness, referral, clear communication etc. On the flipside nearly 27% of patients were not satisfied with referral services.
Conclusion: There is a need to addressing challenges faced by patients by proper counselling and adequate referral mechanism to be put in place by making better systems and processes integrating technology.