Patients' Perception of the Quality of Care at the Dr. René Puig Bentz Dental Clinic

Description

The quality of care at university dental clinics is essential, as patients’ physical and emotional well-being depends on the trust they place in students and faculty; however, the educational setting faces specific challenges in communication, initial orientation, and treatment continuity. At the Dr. René Puig Bentz Dental Clinic, these weaknesses have been identified, specifically the lack of clear guidance during the first visit and the fact that multiple students treat the same patient at different stages of care. Therefore, this study aims to generate proposals to optimize management and improve the patient experience. To achieve this, a quantitative, retrospective, descriptive, and cross-sectional methodology was employed, collecting data at a single point in time by administering the SERVQUAL questionnaire—adapted to the university dental setting—to patients who had previously received care, without intervening in the consultation or manipulating variables, with a total sample of 302 patients. The results showed that 98% of the sample (296/302) had a positive perception of quality. In the analysis of the dimensions, the highest levels of satisfaction were found in safety (98.7%) and empathy (98.3%), followed by reliability and responsiveness (97%). In contrast, the tangibility dimension received the lowest rating (82.8%), with 16.2% perceiving the service as acceptable and 1% as deficient. It was therefore concluded that the clinic operates according to standards of excellence that satisfy patients; however, there is a clear need to implement improvements focused on the condition of the physical facilities and medical equipment in order to optimize service and education.

Steps to reproduce

After obtaining institutional approvals, data collection began by selecting patients from the clinic who met the inclusion criteria; these patients were administered a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model, adapted for the Dr. René Puig Bentz Dental Clinic. This instrument was distributed in both paper and digital formats via Google Forms, following these steps: The first section included the informed consent form, ensuring each patient’s voluntary participation. The second section covered sociodemographic data (gender, age, and educational level), treatment duration, and the number of students involved in their care. The third section assessed the five dimensions of service quality (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) using a Likert scale ranging from one to seven. Finally, the data collected in real time was exported to Microsoft Excel for cleaning, organization, and subsequent descriptive analysis (calculating absolute and relative frequencies, percentages, and measures of central tendency), with the findings presented in tables for clear and understandable representation.

Institutions

• Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña

  Nacional, Santo Domingo

Categories

Licence