Factors Affecting Patients’ Satisfaction with General Practitioners Consultations at Palembang Health Centers, Indonesia

Abstract

This cross-sectional on descriptive study was conducted to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of patients, medical factors, and consultation length that influence patients’ satisfaction with consultations in Palembang health care centers in Indonesia during January 20 to February 20, 2011. A consultation satisfaction questionnaire was administered to 312 patients attending general practitioners in 10 health centers. Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regressions were undertaken to identify variables related to patients’ satisfaction with consultations. The results showed that 88.14% of the respondents had low satisfaction and 11.86% had high satisfaction. The only socio-demographic characteristic associated with satisfaction with consultations was education level (p-value <0.01). Medical factors associated with satisfaction were type of insurance (p-value <0.001), drug/medical equipment prescriptions (p-value <0.001), and health center workloads (p-value <0.001). After adjusting other factors, patients not using free scheme insurance were more likely to have low satisfaction with consultation (OR 3.72, 95% CI 1.27-10.89). Patients who received prescriptions were the least likely to have low satisfaction level (OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.04-0.22). In conclusion, this study found that type of insurance and drug prescriptions were the main predictors of satisfaction with consultations. Health centers need to review the service given to each type of insurance to ensure a balance between patients’ satisfaction and health centers’ ability to fulfill them. The importance of giving proper and correct information about patients’ illnesses is stressed to educate patients expecting prescriptions from the doctors.