Patient satisfaction with dental hygiene providers in US military clinics.

Purpose: Military service members receive their dental care from military dental clinics. The purposes of this study were to assess satisfaction and to identify predictors of patient satisfaction with the hygiene provider in military dental treatment facilities.

Methods: Standardized surveys were administered from 2000 through 2004 by the Tri-Service Center for Oral Health Studies. Dependent variables were overall satisfaction with today's visit and overall satisfaction with the clinic's ability to take care of your needs. Independent variables were grouped by environment of care, beliefs about the care, and demographic characteristics. Principal component factor analysis and hierarchical multiple linear regression were used to test the hypotheses.

Results: A total of 98 792 surveys, with no missing data, from a sample of 130 801, were analyzed. Patients treated by hygiene providers were highly satisfied with dental care, as the mean score for satisfaction with today's visit was 6.61, and overall satisfaction with the clinic was 6.44 on a 7-point bipolar adjective rating scale. Factor analysis revealed that beliefs about care (46.7%) and environment (26.8%) were the most important factors to satisfaction. Both regression models developed for patient satisfaction achieved statistical significance. Model one, overall satisfaction with today's visit, obtained R(2) =.311, with F (6, 98785) = 8923, p<.0001. Model two, overall satisfaction with the clinic, obtained R(2) =.284 with F (6, 98785) = 7848, p<.0001.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that beliefs about care are the most important factors associated with patient satisfaction with the hygiene provider. The interpersonal experience has a strong association with patients' assessment of care and thus, training providers about the relationship of satisfaction with the interpersonal experience can enhance overall satisfaction.