1. 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