Evaluation of Patients' Satisfaction with Postgraduate students' Dentist-Patient Communication skills in Clinics of Dentistry faculty of Tabriz university of medical science

Abstract

Background: Given that the capability to build effective relationships with patients has been reported as a strong predictor of dentist’s professional achievements and the majority of dentist’s communication skills are the leading reasons for patients’ complaint worldwide. This study was intended to assess patients’ satisfaction with dentistry residents’ communication skills at Dentistry Faculty of Tabriz University. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 using the valid and reliable Persian version of Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. Totally 151 patients assessed communication skills of dentistry residents. They were asked to define their satisfaction with each of the ten skills on a seven-point Likert scale from “poor to fair” to “outstanding”. Data were analyzed using SPSS20, correlational, one way ANOVA and regression analyses. Results: The mean of patients’ normalized overall satisfaction score with dentistry residents’ communication skills was 52.72±15.56. The relationship between patients’ overall satisfaction score with their educational level unlike with their income and gender was statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, patients’ overall satisfaction with dentistry residents’ patient-dentist skills was moderate. It is recommended the training and evaluation of communication skills should be a pivotal part of residents’ formal curriculum in order to reinforce medical practice based on biomedical perspectives and consequently to improve patients satisfactions and their health outcome.