Assessing Patients’ Satisfaction with the Quality of Ophthalmic Services at Saint John Gaza Eye Clinic

Objective : This study aimed to assess the patients' satisfaction with health services provided at Outpatients' ophthalmology clinic Department at Saint John Hospital. Methods : The design of this study is descriptive, analytical. 309 participants were recruited from the Outpatients' eye Department at Saint John Hospital. Results : Five dimensions of patients' satisfaction were considered in this study; namely, access to care, physical environment, patients' expectations, waiting time in addition to information and interaction. The overall patients' level of satisfaction was 63.9%. The patients' expectation dimension reported the highest level of satisfaction (68.1%), while, the waiting time dimension reported the lowest level of satisfaction (58.5%). The study illustrated important differences in satisfaction in relation to patients' socio-demographic characteristics, health status and organizational characteristics. Discussion : The study revealed that, there were statistically significant differences in the overall satisfaction with old patients, females, low educated, patients with low income and patients with chronic diseases are more satisfied than their counterparts. Conclusion : The study recommended that reducing the patients' time in the outpatient clinic, introducing improvement on existing physical environment of the department and improving the way of communication and interaction between health care providers and patients are important factors for improving the patients' level of satisfaction.