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Abstract Background The process of collection of body fluid samples and phlebotomy services require highly professionally staff to deal and ensure the reliability of laboratory services to our outpatients when they visit the lab. Satisfaction of the outpatient is one of the quality indicators to monitor and ensure that the laboratory services are adequate and comfortable to outpatient. The aim in this study was to evaluate if the patients are satisfying with our lab services and to improve the services. Methods The standardized survey was distributed among adult and pediatric outpatients at three different hospitals within the king Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, SA during the second quarter (Q2) and third quarter (Q3) of 2023. The main five elements in survey were convenience of laboratory service hours, waiting time, comfort level, privacy, professionalism and curtsey. The established internal target was selected at greater than 80%Some of the answers by patients were extended to reflect the whole outpatient services and not limited to only the phlebotomy service although the survey structure has specified the laboratory area. In addition, some of the handwritten of the answers was not easy to read or understand them. Therefore, these answers have been excluded from the survey. Few steps have been taking to improve the services such as extending the services hours, reduction in the waiting time, improving the skills of the staff, improving comfort and environment. Results A total of 773 and 842 patients participated in the survey during Q2 and Q3 of 2023 respectively. An overall patient satisfaction rate was found to be 63.3% and 81% for Q2 and Q3 of 2023 respectively (p=0.025). The highest average of overall patient satisfaction rate was found to be at 94% for adult during Q3 compared to 53% at Q2 (p0.001). The lowest overall patient satisfaction rate was found to be 69% for pediatrics’ patients for Q3 compared to 73% for Q2 (p=0.4252). In addition, 98 % of the surveyed patient have stated that they would highly recommend the out-patient phlebotomy service at KAMC for other patients. The waiting time displayed lower satisfaction rate (63 %) while privacy feature has shown the highest satisfaction rate 80% Conclusions Increasing of patient’s satisfaction rate has been achieved at the third quarter of the year and after implanting educational and training procedures.
Tamimi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.