The Dental Practice Questionnaire: a patient feedback tool for improving the quality of dental practices

Abstract

Background:The recently introduced Practice Accreditation Scheme as part of the Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards raises the question of how dental practices can implement valid and reliable patient experience feedback mechanisms for performance evaluation and enhancement. This article describes the development and use of a dental patient questionnaire (DPQ) that can be used for this purpose. Methods: DPQ was piloted on 58 voluntary dental practices across Australia and resulted in an average of just over 50 patient responses to 35 practices returned. Statistical properties of the DPQ were tested through validity (construct, content and criterion), structural integrity and reliability measurements. Results: DPQ is valid and reliable, with statistical analysis showing that there are significant differences in patients' scores depending on their age, gender, regularity of visit and number of years attending the practice. Two patient satisfaction models were derived. However, there may be scope for improving DPQ to more effectively produce patient feedback on summative aspects of services provided by dental practices. Conclusions: DPQ has been shown to be 'fit for purpose' in its first pilot and may prove to be a useful tool for supporting dental practices in the Practice Accreditation Scheme.

A consistent definition of cultural safety within Australian health professional education: a scoping review

“…A 2019 systematic review of PREMs (Bull et al, 2019) reported four articles from the Australian context including the practice accreditation and improvement survey (Greco et al, 2001). This survey and the dentistry equivalent (Narayanan & Greco, 2014) included items such as respect, warmth, ability to really listen and consideration of personal situation. An additional questionnaire by Oades et al (2010) included items exploring stigma, power and powerless, relationship with community and family and staff, information and education and holistic care.…”

Just One Thing: a novel patient feedback model

“…Whilst such questionnaires demonstrate validity, structural integrity and reliability, no attempt has been made to evaluate the value or effectiveness of the instrument in informing professional development. 9 Patients may not always be best placed to comment on the quality of care provided by a doctor, dentist or student as they may not be reliable assessors of a practitioners clinical skills, moreover they may use this opportunity to comment on peripheral events beyond the control of the practitioner, such as waiting time, and, their opinion may be influenced by external factors such as cultural differences between the practitioner and the patient. 10 Feedback should perhaps therefore focus more on interpersonal skills, how the patient felt about their experience and the information they were provided with.…”

Patient Satisfaction with the Quality of Oral Rehabilitation Dental Services: A Comparison between the Public and Private Health System

“…The study was carried out using the survey method based on a questionnaire. In the study, we used the DPQ (Dental Practice Questionnaire) [ 17 ]. The DPQ is a self-assessed questionnaire designed based on three dimensions: 7 performance evaluation questions are about access to the practice—‘dental practice’ performative items (Q1–Q7), while one question is about overall satisfaction with this visit to the dentist (Q8—‘summative’ patient satisfaction), 11 performance evaluation questions are about interpersonal and communication skills of the dentist—dentist ‘performative’ items (Q8–Q19), while one question is regarding dentist recommendations given by patients (Q20), and 3 questions are about the service provided at the practice (Q21–Q23).…”

“…The DPQ is a self-assessed questionnaire designed based on three dimensions: 7 performance evaluation questions are about access to the practice—‘dental practice’ performative items (Q1–Q7), while one question is about overall satisfaction with this visit to the dentist (Q8—‘summative’ patient satisfaction), 11 performance evaluation questions are about interpersonal and communication skills of the dentist—dentist ‘performative’ items (Q8–Q19), while one question is regarding dentist recommendations given by patients (Q20), and 3 questions are about the service provided at the practice (Q21–Q23). Items from the satisfaction scale (first 20 items) were measured on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (1—low; 2—moderate; 3—good; 4—very good; 5—excellent), while items for questions about the service provided at the practice were binary (yes/no) [ 17 ].…”

“…Measuring satisfaction can help us understand patients’ expectations and adopt individualized treatment according to their expectations. Over time, a multitude of quantitative questionnaires have been developed and applied to determine the degree of patient satisfaction with dental medical services [ 5 , 10 ], such as the 19-item Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSQ) [ 11 ], the 10-item Dental Visit Satisfaction Scale (DVSS) [ 12 ], the 22-item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perception of Service Quality (SERVQUAL) [ 13 ], the 31-item Australian Dental Satisfaction Scale (DSS) [ 14 ], CAHPS Dental Plan Survey from AHRQ [ 15 , 16 ] and the Dental Practice Questionnaire (DPQ) [ 17 ]. The Dental Practice Questionnaire measures patients’ actual experiences (examines important aspects of the quality of dental care from the patient’s perspective rather than assessing the patient’s expectations or attitudes) and was designed specifically for the Practice Accreditation Scheme as part of the Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service [ 6 , 16 , 17 ].…”