Patient Satisfaction and Its Predictors in the General Hospitals of Southwest Saudi Arabia: A Cross-sectional Survey

Background: Patient satisfaction occupies a central position in measuring the quality of care as it provides information on the provider's success, meeting the patient’s values and expectations. Hence, it is an essential tool for assessing health services outcomes. This study aimed to assess patients' satisfaction level and factors influencing healthcare quality of general hospitals in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia (SA). Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 423 patients selected through stratified random sampling from general hospitals of the Jazan region. Results: The overall satisfaction rate among the study participants was 80.9%. Satisfaction with food services was the highest (91.15%) followed by doctor services (81.0%), reception and entry procedures (80%), and nursing services (78.15%). The various aspects of satisfaction with doctors and nurses included the treatment prescribed by physicians, clarity in communication with patients, compassion and providing clear explanation of what they were doing. However, about 27.3% of the patients were dissatisfied with the length of waiting period before seeing a doctor. Binary logistic regression analysis suggested that uneducated patients and patients with secondary school education were more likely to have higher satisfaction level than university-educated patients (OR = 3.40, 95% C.I. [1.56–7.45], p = 0.002), (OR = 2.66, 95% C.I. [1.28–5.55], p = 0.009), and (OR = 2.29, 95% C.I. [1.40–3.73], p = 0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The health services satisfaction level was high in the Jazan population. However, some aspects of dissatisfaction were reported, such as the long waiting period before seeing a doctor. These aspects are recommended to be improved to ensure that the services provided by general hospitals are of high quality.