Patient satisfaction and an international dental graduate workforce programme
International Journal of Health Governance
ISSN: 2059-4631
Article publication date: 12 April 2018
Issue publication date: 13 August 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The New South Wales International Dental Graduate (N-IDG) programme was an Australian state government workforce initiative to support rural public dental services. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate patient satisfaction following dental treatment provided by an IDG workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional descriptive study used a validated questionnaire survey instrument to measure patient satisfaction (n=813) following treatment provided by IDGs enroled in the N-IDG programme, compared to their mentors. Domains included dentists’ professional competency, personality and the dental surgery organisation. Analysis of closed and open question responses was performed using domain grouping, frequency and χ2 analysis.
Findings
Patient satisfaction across the IDG and mentor workforce was similar and very positively skewed with differences detected across perceived treatment quality (p=0.03), clinician efficiency (p=0.05) and answering of questions (p=0.05). These results favoured treatment provided by IDGs over mentors. This study demonstrated few differences between IDGs under limited registration and their mentors in terms of perceived patient satisfaction, suggesting patient perceived parity in care.
Originality/value
Patient satisfaction was used innovatively to IDGs as an indicator of dental workforce programme effectiveness.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Sydney Dental Hospital, SLHD Oral Health Services and Westmead Centre for Oral Health, WSLHD Oral Health Services for providing training and administration for the N-IDG programme. The authors also thank University of Sydney, Faculty of Dentistry for assisting in facilitation of the N-IDG programme, all the mentors, IDGs and patients who participated in the study, Drs Len Crocombe and Marc Tenant for assisting with reviewing this paper and Karen Byth for assistance with statistical analysis.
Citation
Skapetis, T., Ajwani, S. and Bhole, S. (2018), "Patient satisfaction and an international dental graduate workforce programme", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 243-251. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-02-2018-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited