Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF THE PATIENTS’ SATISFACTION REGARDING THE TREATMENT UNDER SMART CARD

Dr. Annapoorna H. B., *Dr. Dipayan Datta and Dr. Adrika De

Abstract

Introduction: The Government of India initiated maximum coverage of health care at affordable cost through Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana 2008 with the help of Smart card which is a cashless and prompt service. This survey has been conducted to get feedback from the patients availing Smart Card facilities to find out if they are really contented with the service provided by the Government. Materials and Methods: The study included sample of 50 who were the patients in various dental clinics in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. A comprehensive close-ended 10-item questionnaire was prepared and delivered to them. The first part of the questionnaire with five questions was to assess the satisfaction of the participants regarding the services they received under the scheme. And the second part with five questions was to assess their satisfaction regarding the efficiency of the dental clinic in providing treatments enlisted in the scheme. Internal consistency (reliability) was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The data were statistically analysed using SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Results: None of the participants were unsatisfied and the fraction of highly satisfied individuals was greater than the fraction of moderately satisfied individuals. Conclusion: The present study is the first of its kind in India that assessed the level of satisfaction of the patients receiving dental treatments under the smart card scheme and showed that most of them were adequately satisfied with this. Their satisfaction could be a motivating factor for the Government to improve the quality of dental health care delivery thereby uplifting the growth of the country.

Keywords: Smart Card, Satisfaction, Dental treatment, Questionnaire.