Quantitative Analysis Shedding Light on the Roots of Dissatisfaction with Health Care Services in the State of Qatar: An Exploratory Study Catherine Nasrallah, MPH., Yara Qutteina, MPH., Salma Khaled, PhD. Project funded by SESRI and the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) 1. Introduction 4. Analysis Dissatisfaction with health care performance is an important source of information about health system quality as perceived by the public It has long term negative impacts on: Relationship between health care users and health care providers Health related behaviors Health outcomes Translation & Coding 257 open-ended responses to the “Other” category were translated and coded Quantitative Analysis Coded responses were merged with pre-coded response options & frequency of each category was calculated using STATA Qualitative Analysis Alberta Quality Matrix for Health was used to guide the analysis based on the six dimensions of health system quality Grave Public Health Implications What about the health care system in Qatar? Need to understand reasons for healthcare dissatisfaction Increased demands for healthcare services High prevalence of chronic diseases High rates of dissatisfaction with health care services 5. Results 711 participants reported causes of dissatisfaction 13 categories for dissatisfaction, related to 4 different dimensions of quality of healthcare were identified Long waiting periods (68%) Limited choices of health care providers (28%) Crowded health care facilities (10%) Lack of health care facilities in certain areas (3%) Accessibility Lack of competency and qualifications (44%) High rates of medical errors (12%) Poor services (cleanliness, lack of appropriate facilities & weak administration) (31%) Safety Poor communication (clarity & relevance) (31%) Unethical, disrespectful and authoritarian approach of staff (22%) Language barrier (11%) Discrimination (6%) Acceptability Lack of qualified and specialized medical staff (12%) Increased health care costs (8%) Efficiency 2. Objective Identify the sources of health care dissatisfaction in Qatar among Qataris and white-collar expatriates aged 18 years or above 3. Methodology Study: Secondary data from a national household survey on health services utilization and health-related expenditures Sampling: Disproportionate stratified probability sampling Sample Size: 1,528 Qataris and 1,552 white-collar expatriates Response Rate: 78.1% Data Collection: Face-to-face interviews using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) conducted in Arabic and English Instrument: Survey includes question on reasons for discontent with healthcare services in Qatar. Respondents selected one or more pre-coded response options for dissatisfaction: Waiting time to see a health care provider Language used to communicate Clarity of how things are explained to the patient Poor services provided Limited choices of health care providers High costs of health care services Other reasons 6. Conclusion This research highlights several future actions to increase health care satisfaction in Qatar. These actions include mainly: Decreasing waiting periods Recruiting competent and qualified health care providers Enhancing and monitoring quality of services provided Improving medical staff communication skills Undertaking qualitative research to understand reasons for patient dissatisfaction from the health care providers’ perspectives