Views of patients and general dental practitioners on the organizational aspects of a general dental practice

Objective To examine the views of patients and general dental practitioners (GDPs) on the organizational aspects of a general dental practice and to see whether their views differ. Background Health care has increasingly centred on the patient over the last two decades, and the patients' opinions have been taken more seriously. Although in other health-care sectors research on organizational aspects has been performed, research in dental care is lacking on this subject. Design We developed two questionnaires covering 41 organizational aspects of a general dental practice: one for GDPs and one for dental patients. The questionnaires were handed out in dental practices to 5000 patients and sent to 500 GDPs. Results We describe the results of the organizational aspects mentioned most by 25% of the dental patients. For most aspects, the views of the patients and GDPs differed significantly. However, both respondent groups mentioned the same category the most. Conclusions The results of this study could be used on a policy level for the development of guidelines and on a practice level for individual GDPs to adjust practice management to the preferences of patients.