ABSTRACT The satisfaction of 400 inpatients with physician services at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh was evaluated. Patient characteristics and ward of admission were collected and a questionnaire based on the standardized Likert scale was used. The highest mean satisfaction score was for admission and the lowest for communication. Among service items, the highest mean score was for physicians enquiring about patient conditions and opinions when planning care and the lowest for physicians asking for opinions about care quality and problems. Female and less educated patients were more satisfied with their care than male and educated patients. Male surgical and medical ward patients were the most dissatisfied with physicians’ services. These findings offer hospital management information about shortcomings requiring remedial intervention.

RESUME On a évalué la satisfaction de 400 malades hospitalisés vis-à-vis des prestations fournies par les médecins à l’hôpital universitaire King Khalid de Riyad. Des données ont été recueillies en ce qui concerne les caractéristiques des malades et le service dans lequel ils ont été admis, et un questionnaire fondé sur l’échelle de Likert standardisée a été utilisé. Le score moyen de satisfaction le plus élevé concernait les admissions et le plus faible la communication. Parmi les éléments relatifs aux prestations, le score moyen le plus élevé était attribué aux médecins qui cherchaient à connaître les conditions et opinions des malades lors de la planification des soins et le plus faible aux médecins qui demandaient l’opinion des malades sur la qualité des soins prodigués et les problèmes rencontrés. Les femmes et les malades moins instruits étaient davantage satisfaits de leurs soins que ne l’étaient les hommes et les malades instruits. Les malades de sexe masculin des services de chirurgie et médecine étaient ceux qui étaient les plus mécontents des prestations des médecins. Ces résultats fournissent des informations à la direction des hôpitaux au sujet des insuffisances qui nécessitent des mesures de correction.

Studies of patient attitudes towards health services, health personnel and resources are important to determine whether they meet consumer expectations and needs and to judge consumer satisfaction [1,2]. In Saudi Arabia, such studies have been scarce or of a rather general nature. During the past few years, however, researchers have reported specialized studies of patient attitudes towards and satisfaction with primary health care services [3–6]. These studies have also reported how attitudes and satisfaction with providers and resources relate to various aspects of health care. Such studies are important when planning changes or improvements to health services.

A hospital as a care delivery institution is challenged to provide the quality of care that meets the needs of its clients. Hospital managers, administrators and government agencies therefore conduct surveys on quality of care to identify deficiencies within the multidimensional hospital system that require remedial intervention [7]. Hospital-based quality of care studies often focus on a range of dimensions within the hospital including reception, admission and discharge procedures, housekeeping, sanitation, nutrition services, nursing and physician-led services. Most quality of care studies of patient satisfaction with hospital services have focused on principal care providers [8–11], particularly nurses and physicians.

Physicians play a very significant role in the hospitalization process. They are responsible for the admission of the patient, diagnosis and prescription of medications, monitoring the patient’s progress in relation to therapeutic procedures and treatment modalities, and instilling confidence and optimism in the patient in the hope of psychologically enhancing recovery. Perceptions of satisfaction are the result of individual patient characteristics and of the medical care systems they enter and patient satisfaction is substantially correlated to the consumer’s perceptions of physician conduct and interaction with patients [12]. Therefore, the extent to which physicians provide these physician-led services to the satisfaction of inpatients reflects the quality of care. Consequently this draws attention to areas that require either managerial or administrative intervention for improvement.

To the best of the author’s knowledge since the establishment of King Khalid University Hospital in 1982 there has been no evaluation of the quality of care delivered by physicians to hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to assess inpatient satisfaction with physician services at King Khalid University Hospital.

From January 2000 to April 2000, various aspects of inpatient services were evaluated at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, which provides free medical services to eligible patients. The average daily census at the hospital is 547, average occupancy rate is 81%, average turnover interval is 2, average length of stay is 5 days and 701 beds are available. There are 7 wards in the hospital, i.e. medical male, medical female, surgical male, surgical female, obstetric, gynaecologic and paediatric.

A questionnaire that included 83 questions about the hospital, of which 15 pertained to physician-led services, was used to collect information from inpatients. The questionnaire was based on the standardized Likert scale of patient satisfaction. For each question the minimum score was ‘1’ (dissatisfaction) and the maximum was ‘5’ (satisfaction). The questions addressed three main components: admission and diagnosis; communication; and care of the patient. These questions were compiled from several studies of patient perceptions of quality of care [7–12]. The study population consisted of all patients admitted as inpatients. Criteria for inclusion were that the patient was admitted for at least 3 days and consented to the interview. For paediatric patients unable to answer the questions, a family member attending to the patient was interviewed. Informed consent was obtained from each respondent before the interview and confidentiality of responses was assured. The sample consisted of 400 patients selected at random from the different wards with probability proportional to the number of patients in the ward. The department of patient affairs collected the data.

Student t-test and analysis of variance were used for comparisons of mean score of satisfaction within sociodemographic variables. Multiple regression analysis identified sociodemographic factors that influenced patient satisfaction with physician-led service. The cut-off values for significance were P < 0.05 or P < 0.01.

Data were obtained for 350 patients, i.e. a response rate of 88%. Lack of response was due to poor interviewer technique. Table 1 shows patient satisfaction with various physician-led services. The highest mean satisfaction score was for admission and diagnosis (3.72) and the lowest for communication (3.10). For communication, the highest mean score was for patient conditions, opinions and preferences (4.78) and the lowest for physicians inquiring about patient opinions of the provided quality of care (1.45). For admission and diagnosis, the highest mean score was for necessary precautions for maintaining patient’s privacy during physical examination (4.70) and the lowest was for complexity of the admission procedure (2.30). For care to the patient, the highest mean satisfaction score was for periodic checks on patient progress (4.20) and the lowest was for physicians being unable to know the individual condition of each patient with so many patients to see (2.10).

Table 3 shows mean satisfaction score for physician services by ward. The highest mean satisfaction score was for obstetrics (4.10) and the lowest was for male surgical (3.10). The mean satisfaction scores for female medical, male medical wards, female surgical and paediatric were 3.75, 3.42, 3.81 and 3.72 respectively.

Because physicians are the leaders of health services and the decision-makers for inpatient care, patient desires and expectations for physician care warrant scrutiny. The overall mean satisfaction score of our patients with physician-led services was 3.31. This figure is comparable to some studies and lower than other studies, particularly those from similar Arab cultures [5]. This difference could be genuine and might be explained as a slight majority of doctors were non-Saudis. Because some are from non-Arabic speaking countries and because of cultural and social differences, fluent communication with patients is sometimes difficult. On the other hand, interpreting differences among studies without adequate information about methodology, study population, health system characteristics and sociocultural values and attitudes is difficult [10]. Patient satisfaction with physician care is determined by many factors such as job satisfaction of physicians, delivery models and organizational structures [13–19].

In the present study the highest mean satisfaction scores were for consideration of patient conditions, opinions and preferences while planning care, and for maintaining patient privacy during physical examination. This might be because physicians are very sensitive to cultural issues in the Saudi context. On the other hand, the lowest mean satisfaction scores were for physicians providing the family with adequate information regarding the patient’s condition and treatment plan and for physicians not knowing the individual condition of each patient. This might be explained by unsatisfactory physician communication skills. Undergraduate training of physicians needs a major reform to allow for training in communication and interaction skills through the early and continuous exposure of medical students to patient care. The establishment of continuing education programmes in communication skills and intensive Arabic lessons for non-Arabic speaking physicians is also needed.

Female inpatients were satisfied with most physician-led services. This was likely to be the result of the greater courtesy that is often given to females than males. It is also quite likely that the physicians acted in accordance with Saudi cultural etiquette, which tends to treat women more respectfully than men in various public and social circumstances. Some researchers have found the sex of the attendant physician influences patient satisfaction [20,21]. They found that both male and female patients attended by female doctors were more satisfied than those attended by male doctors. Education level was also associated with patient satisfaction. Those with university degrees were less satisfied than those with less education. This finding agreed with many similar studies [5,11,14]. Married people also were more satisfied than single people. This finding was similar to a previous study in Riyadh that measured overall patient satisfaction [4]. In previous studies, older subjects were generally less active and more satisfied than younger subjects [3,22]. In our study, the oldest group of patients were also more satisfied with physician care. The middle-aged group (those aged 30–49 years) of patients in our study were least satisfied with physician services. This might be because they have the most exposure to health services outside of the country and therefore they may be more critical. Other studies have found a similar association [12,22].

In conclusion, this study has identified aspects of physician-led services at King Khalid University Hospital that may require remedial intervention for improvement. As a way of bringing about change, the management should communicate the findings of this study to all physicians at the hospital to make them aware of the problems. Re-education of physicians to care for all patients equally, regardless of sex or level of education, may be another strategy to improve the quality of care. In addition, further studies on quality of care may necessary to provide clues about expectations or perceptions of care during hospitalization of Saudi patients. Such information may provide a benchmark to adjust the existing level of care provided by physicians to the satisfaction of patients.