Assessment of patient satisfaction in dental outreach programmes conducted among Chengalpet district population: a cross sectional survey

Background: Patient satisfaction and the nature of the doctor patient relationship have been investigated as potential keys to better understanding the healthcare process. Therefore, the present study was designed to evaluate patient satisfaction at various rural outreach dental camps conducted by the institution over the period of 15 days.Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted among patients attending community dental outreach programs organized by the dental teaching hospital over a period of 1 month. A total of 4 weekly and 1 monthly camp were included, and all the subjects who attended these camps were administered the pretested structured questionnaire. The questions were related to the satisfaction level of the patient in outreach dental camps and answers were recorded using a four‐point “Likert” scale with Chi‐square and independent t‐test were used for statistical analysis.Results: The results showed that level of satisfaction among patients were higher in weekly camps (95.2%) as compared to monthly camps that is (80%). The response rate for the weekly camps was 95.2%, whereas for the monthly camp was 80%. Overall patient satisfaction scores reported highest in aspects of dental treatment provided followed by meeting the perceived need of the patient with almost care.Conclusions: Patient satisfaction with the community dental outreach programs was high, reflecting the delivery of quality treatment and positive attitude of the dental team during the camps. The overall response towards need for the dental treatment was also a good response towards enhancing oral health service to public through outreach programmes.