Abstract:

Background: Measuring outpatient satisfaction is an integral component of quality management in healthcare settings. Outpatient service is a major part in the hospital services and patient care. Objectives: This study aims to develop a valid and reliable survey toolfor measuring the quality of outpatient service in an academic medical center hospital. Design: A cross-sectional, analytical research design was conducted among outpatients Settings: King Fahd Hospital of the University, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: The questionnaire was administered to 445 outpatients who attended the clinics during the period of April – June 2015 in King Fahd Hospital of the University. The questionnaire comprised of 21 items on 4 conceptual subscales: Professional care, Availability of service, Waiting time and Laboratory service. A five-point Likert scale was used to measure the level of satisfaction. Reliability was performed using Cronbach’s α coefficient. Factor analysis was done to test the validity of the survey instrument. Main outcome measures: Reliability, Validity for the questionnaire overall, and for each sub-scale. Results: Factor analysis indicated that the outpatients’ satisfaction towardsthe quality of service scale had four latent factors, which explained 82% of the variance: The four subscales measured includes: (1) professional care, (2) availability of other services, (3) waiting time, and(4) satisfaction of laboratory service. The four factors had excellent reliability coefficients, ranging between 0.821 (professional care), 0.854 (availability of service), 0.730 (waiting time) and 0.717 (laboratory service). It is also observed that the full scale had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.868). Conclusion: This study provides evidence of reliability and validity of the new survey tool for the measurement of outpatient service satisfaction in academic medical center. Limitations: This study was conducted in an academic center medical center hospital, therefore the outcome as well the developed research tool is not suitable for non-academic Hospitals.

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