JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Challenging encounters in healthcare professions are relatively common, also among dental health professionals. Challenging encounters can be defined as stressful situations with patients, or more specifically as dealing with anxious or angry patients. Traditionally, the patient's perspective on treatment situations has been researched through use of surveys, observations, or interview data. Online reviews make it possible for patients to rate and write about their experiences with healthcare providers and can be a useful source for investigating topics such as patient satisfaction and experiences of challenging encounters.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to identify the dominant themes from patient written online reviews of dentists, and to investigate how these themes could predict patient satisfaction with dental treatment.

Methods:

The study data consisted of 11,764 reviews written by dental patients, which included 1-5-star ratings on overall satisfaction and a free text comment. The free text comments were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC), and the Meaning Extraction Method (MEM) was used to group words into thematic categories. These themes were used as variables in a multilevel logistic regression analysis to predict patient satisfaction.

Results:

Eight themes emerged from the analyses, of which six; Explanation (OR=2.56, P<.001), Assurance (OR=3.61, P<.001), Professional Advice (OR=1.81, P<.001), Recommendation (OR=1.30, P<.001), Performance Assessment (OR=2.16, P<.001) and Facilities (OR=1.77, P=.023); increased the odds of experiencing high patient satisfaction. The remaining two themes, Consequences of Treatment Need and Patient Centered Care, reduced the odds (OR=0.24 and OR=0. 62 respectively, P<.001) of experiencing high patient satisfaction.

Conclusions:

MEM is an interesting approach to explore patients’ written accounts of encounters with dental health professionals. The experiences told by patients provide insight into key elements related to patient satisfaction that can be utilized in education of dental health professionals and to improve provision of dental health services.