Frequency Of Patient Satisfaction And Its Association With Socio-Demographic Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Public And Private Family Medicine Clinics In Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: To determine patient satisfaction with family medicine clinics at selected public and private tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. The study also determined sociodemographic factors associated with patient satisfaction at family medicine clinics. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at a public and private tertiary care hospital. PSQ-18 was used to measure patient satisfaction. Patients visiting the facility were selected using convenient sampling. Data was analyzed using SPSS vs. 24. Results: 89.3% (n =299) of all the study participants were satisfied with the services provided at family medicine clinics. The frequency of patient satisfaction was significantly higher at public clinics i.e. 90.9% (n=150) as compared to patients visiting private clinics i.e. 87.6% (n=149) (p-value <0.001). Married patients were more likely to be satisfied with services as compared to unmarried (adj. OR: 3.2, 95% CI; 1.5-6.7, p-value 0.002). Patients from middle socioeconomic status (adj. OR: 0.19, 95/5 CI: 0.10-0.35, p-value <0.001) and high socioeconomic status (adj. OR: 0.23, 95/5 CI: 0.10-0.51, p-value <0.001) were less likely to be satisfied with the services. No significant association was observed for age, sex, education and employment status.Conclusion: Sociodemographic factors seem to have a substantial effect on perceived satisfaction with family medicine clinics. Large-scale studies are required to determine the role of patients` sociodemographic characteristics on patients` satisfaction with healthcare services. This will help in designing and implementing specific interventions to address specific expectations from the family medicine services to achieve patient satisfaction.