Assessment of Patient’s Expectation, Perception, and Satisfaction to Improve Quality of Care in Tertiary Dental Care Hospital in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh: A Questionnaire Study

Abstract Background: Patient satisfaction plays an important role in measuring the quality of care and helps in the improvement of services, as it may be considered as an outcome of dental care besides clinical outcomes. The study aimed to assess the expectations, perceptions, and satisfaction levels of patients to enhance the quality of care at a tertiary dental care hospital in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Methodology: It is a cross-sectional study. It included 330 participants aged >18, selected through convenience sampling. Questionnaires on expectation and perception were adapted from Babakus and Mangold, while the satisfaction questionnaire was assessed using the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction by Hawthorne et al . Results: Out of 330 participants, 153 were male and 177 were female, with an age range of 18–82 years and a mean age of 29.18 ± 12.01 years. The majority (69.4%) was aged between 18 and 30 years, and the least (0.3%) were aged between 70 and 82 years. On average, the total mean scores for expectation and perception of quality dental care were 4.58 and 4.62, respectively. About 80.3% of patients reported satisfaction with treatment, while 19.4% were dissatisfied. Conclusion: Female participants exhibited higher expectation, perception, and satisfaction scores compared to males. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in scores concerning age and gender distribution. Overall, the study found that patients had high expectations and perceptions of the quality of care at the tertiary dental care hospital, with a correspondingly high level of satisfaction.