Patient satisfaction in primary care and the relationship with physicians’ job satisfaction

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study, conducted by the Department of Family Medicine of Trakya University Medical School, was to determine the levels of patient satisfaction in Family Health Centers and job satisfaction of the doctors’ in these centers, and to evaluate their relationship.

Methods: Doctors working in Family Health Centers in Edirne City center and patients above the age of 18 admitted to them were included in the study. In this cross-sectional study, data from 1170 patients were collected via a questionnaire comprising of sociodemographic questions with the Turkish version of European Patients Evaluate General/Family Practice (EUROPEP), whereas data from 39 Family Doctors were collected via a questionnaire comprising of sociodemographic questions with the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire.

Results: A relationship between the level of satisfaction of the patients and monthly house income, age, education level, marital status, child status, chronic disease and gender was determined. While there was a negative relationship with education status and monthly house income; there was a positive relationship with age, child status and the presence of chronic disease.The level of job satisfaction of the doctors included in the study was high among 33.3% and medium among 66.7%. While the job satisfaction only related with age, there was a significant relationship between doctors’ job satisfaction and patients’ satisfaction levels.

Conclusion: Considering the importance of primary care health services on health system and community health, it is extremely important to determine the factors affecting the primary care doctors’ job satisfaction and the satisfaction of patients who are seeking medical help in order to improve the quality of the provided service.Thus, periodic evaluations of the primary and other health care services by the patients and determinations of the job satisfaction levels of the doctors and other health care providers seem to have a positive effect on eliminating the drawbacks of the health care services and improving the health care quality.