Mona Faisal Al-Qahtani, Shahad Khalid Al-Dohailan, Hind Tareq Al-Sharani, Maram Abdulrahman Al-Medaires, Eman Najeh Khuridah and Najla Mohammed Al-Dossary
It is believed that the process of accreditation, w hether mandatory or voluntary, that many hospitals have been undergoing in recent times provides attainable standards of improvement in the quality of patient care, ensures a safe environment, and reduces medic al errors. Though Saudi Arabia is one of the first countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to im plement healthcare accreditation standards, there i s very little information about its impact on patient satisfaction with the healthcare services. The obj ective of this study is to determine the quality of health care services provided by accredited and non- accredited hospitals in the Obstetrics and Gynecolo gy clinics, using the views of patients. A cross- sectional study was conducted from the first of Apr il to the end of May 2011, at one accredited and a non- accredited hospital. A questionnaire was used to as sess patients' perceptions of the quality of health care provided in the Obstetrics and Gynecology clin ics. A total of 420 patients were surveyed. A 5-po int Likert scale was used to rate the scales in the sur vey tool. The results showed statistically signific ant differences in patients' satisfaction between the a ccredited and non-accredited hospitals in Clinical Care Facilities, Professionalism in Clinical Ultrasound, Professionalism in the Laboratory and Overall Satisfaction. Patients in the accredited hospital w ere more satisfied with all above-mentioned subscal es, except the laboratory subscale which scored higher at the non-accredited hospital. Patients at the accredited hospital were more content with the qual ity of health care provided for them at Clinical Ca re Facilities, Professionalism in Clinical Ultrasound and indicated higher overall satisfaction than thos e at the non-accredited hospital.
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