Impact of accreditation of family medicine teams on patient satisfaction

Abstract

Background Accreditation of health care institutions is used in many countries as way to improve quality of care, as it is associated with better clinical and organizational results. On the other hand, only few studies are conducted to explore impact of accreditation on patient satisfaction, especially at the primary care level in developing countries. Aim of this study is to explore impact of accreditation of family medicine teams on patient satisfaction with services provided at the primary care level in health system of Republic of Srpska. Methods Patient Satisfaction Survey was conducted with completed interviews of 900 patients registered with 18 Family Medicine Teams (FMT) from 4 municipalities. The survey instrument (questionnaire) was developed on the basis of the existing instruments used in other countries. Fifty patients of each FMT were interviewed. For determination of statistical significance for certain categories of findings, χ²-test was used. Results Results of this study show that patients of accredited family medicine teams are better satisfied than patients of non-accredited teams as they have provided more positive answers to almost all defined questions in the questionnaire. Conclusion Higher number of positive responses from patients of accredited FMT can indicate that accreditation is associated with higher satisfaction of patients with services provided by family medicine teams.