Dental care in Yerevan, Armenia: assessing quality and patient experience

Abstract

Background: Patient Experience (PE) is an important component of healthcare quality and PatientCentered Care. Dental PE depends on a range of interactions between patients and health care systems, such as accessibility of facilities, patient-dentist relationship, waiting time, information provided by the dentist and other factors such as patient safety, privacy, participation in decision-making, etc. Little is known about PE of dental care in Yerevan, Armenia. Objective: This study assessed the PE of dental care in Yerevan’s dental clinics. Secondary objectives were focused on the identification of factors associated with PE, gaps between dental patients’ expectations and provided dental care, making recommendations to improve the quality and utilization of dental services. Methods: I implemented a cross-sectional survey of 164 dental patients of 7 randomly selected dental clinics of Yerevan’s seven largest districts using a self- administered questionnaire to assess their experience in dental services via a Patient Experience Score (PES). To identify factors associated with PES, I conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results: The majority of participants were female 98 (59.8%); the mean age was 42.85, ranging from 18 to 84. The mean PES score was 3.92 (3.00 to 5.00, SD 0.39). The highest results were received for Respect (mean 4.40), Pain management (mean 4.18), Safety (mean 4.17). Among the lowest results were General satisfaction (mean 2.94), Privacy (mean 3.74), and Quality of care (mean 3.86). Those patients who reported their standard of living as “above average” had 5.64 times higher odds of having a higher PES (OR=5.64, 95% CI: 1.02 – 31.13, p=0.047) when adjusted for age. Conclusion: This first study of dental PE in Armenia establishes an important baseline for dentists and policy-makers, providing insights for improving oral health outcomes. This study provides a foundation for further research and exploration of PES among dental patients across the country.