Promoting equitable and patient-centred care: an analysis of patient satisfaction in urban, rural and remote primary care sites in the Philippines

Abstract

Objectives: This study measured changes in patient satisfaction levels before and after the introduction of primary care system strengthening interventions in urban, rural, and remote sites in the Philippines.

Methods: A previously validated 16-item questionnaire was distributed to 200 patients per site before implementation of interventions and to a different set of 200 patients 1 year after implementation. We compared the percentage change in highly satisfied patients per site before and after implementing interventions using a two-proportion Z-test.

Results: The urban site had a significant increase in patient satisfaction in 13 survey items, which corresponded to the domains of healthcare availability, service efficiency, technical competency and health communication. The rural site had a significant increase in six survey items, which corresponded to the domains of service efficiency, environment, location, health communication and handling. The remote site had a decrease in patient satisfaction in 10 survey items, with a significant increase in only 4 items under the domains of healthcare availability and handling.

Conclusion: Our findings support the 'inverse equity hypothesis', where well-resourced urban communities quickly adopt complex health interventions while rural and remote settings experience delays in effectively meeting patient needs and system demands. Extended intervention periods and targeted strategies may be necessary to impact patient satisfaction in underserved areas considerably.

Keywords: Community Health Services; Health services research; Healthcare quality improvement; Quality improvement.