Patient satisfaction with intraoral examination in a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Abstract

While studies on satisfaction following medical procedures are well documented, but this is not so with dental procedures. Therefore, this study aims to determine the level of satisfaction in patient undergoing intraoral examination (IOE). Consecutive patients attending the oral diagnosis clinic of University of Benin Teaching Hospital from April 2020 to September 2020 were interviewed using a questionnaire modified from the modified Group Health Association of America-9 questionnaire. A total number of 103 consecutive dental patients were recruited as they all agreed to participate in the study. The age range was 18–77 years with a mean age of 35.8 ± 14.3 years. There were more males (51.5%). The overall satisfaction was 82.5%. The maximum satisfactory response was on doctor’s manner (93.2%), followed by staff ’s manner (89.3%), comfort during IOE (80.6%), adequate explanation (78.6%), and finally by waiting time (60.2%). There was association between occupation (P = 0.04) of the patients, type of dental condition (P = 0.03), waiting time (P = 0.01), doctor’s manner (P = 0.00), staff manner (P = 0.00), adequate explanation (P = 0.00), comfort during IOE (P = 0.00), and level of satisfaction. The problem rate was 16%. Although waiting time and adequate explanation ranked the highest in terms of unfavorable responses, the overall satisfaction of patients following IOE was generally good. The factors that influence satisfaction were occupation of the patients, type of dental condition, waiting time, doctor’s manner, staff manner, adequate explanation, and comfort during IOE.