Abstract

BORGES, Rayanne Cristhina; OTONI, Thaína Aparecida Chaves  and  PIRES, Regina Coeli Cançado Peixoto. Assessment of dental service quality provided by the School of Dentistry, University of Itaúna, MG, Brazil: user view, 2014. RFO UPF [online]. 2015, vol.20, n.3, pp. 308-312. ISSN 1413-4012.

Introduction: Identifying the socioeconomic pattern of public service users is essential to plan the procedures to be performed at clinics of higher education institutions, and it helps to perfect the construction of the treatment plan to be proposed by the student to each patient. Objective: This study aimed to assess the sociodemographic profile and the level of satisfaction of patients treated at the Dental School clinics of the University of Itaúna, Minas Gerais, Brazil, according to services provided by employees, students, and teachers. Material and Methods: a self-administered questionnaire, specifically designed for the study, was applied and responded with no intervention from researchers. The participants were patients who attended the Dental School clinics from Monday to Friday in the morning and afternoon, and by Saturday morning. After sample calculation, the total population of the study consisted of 227 users, proportionally stratified by day of the week they were assisted. Results: The results showed that 159 (70.0%) users were women with low level of education, and 138 (60.8%) had a monthly income of 2-3 minimum wages. Data showed that 101 (32.8%) users sought dental care at the University because of financial inability to seek private care, 190 (83.7%) trusted the procedures performed by the students, so the Dentistry School had a positive assessment from 205 (90.3 %) users. Conclusion: Patients showed to be satisfied with the care provided at the Dental School, which reflects the good performance of students, professors, and staff, given such assessment is important to aid the planning of actions, aiming to improve services provided.

Keywords : Assessment; Dentistry; Patients.