Patient satisfaction with outpatient cardiology care: organisational and communication factors

Abstract

Introduction. Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of healthcare quality and patient-centredness. In cardiovascular care, satisfaction may be influenced by both the organisational accessibility of services and the quality of communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Understanding the relative contribution of these factors is essential for improving outpatient care and the patient experience. Objective. To assess satisfaction with outpatient cardiology care and examine the associations of organisational and communication factors with full satisfaction among patients with cardiovascular diseases. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 3 to 18 May 2024 among 152 adult patients seeking outpatient care at the City Cardiology Centre in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Participants evaluated their previous experience of receiving care at their assigned primary healthcare clinic using an investigator-developed structured questionnaire. The primary outcome was full satisfaction with medical care. Descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney test, Pearson’s chi-square test, correlation analysis, and binary logistic regression were applied. Because ratings of communication with general practitioners and cardiologists were highly correlated, two parallel adjusted regression models were constructed. Results. Overall, 69 of 152 patients (45.4%) reported full satisfaction with medical care, while 114 of 149 respondents (76.5%) rated the overall performance of their primary healthcare clinic positively. Difficulties in scheduling an appointment were reported by 59.9% of patients for general practitioners and by 60.5% for cardiologists; queues were reported by 58.6% of participants for GP visits and by the same proportion for cardiologist visits. In the unadjusted analysis, the waiting barrier was associated with lower odds of full satisfaction (odds ratio 0.469; 95% confidence interval 0.237–0.927; p=0.028), but this association was no longer statistically significant after adjustment. In the multivariable analysis, a higher physician communication score was the only factor independently associated with full satisfaction. Each one-point increase in the communication score was associated with higher odds of full satisfaction both for communication with a general practitioner (adjusted odds ratio 13.076; 95% confidence interval 4.329–39.495; p<0.001) and for communication with a cardiologist (adjusted odds ratio 16.595; 95% confidence interval 5.098–54.020; p<0.001). Conclusion. Full satisfaction with outpatient cardiology care was primarily associated with the quality of physician–patient communication. Organisational barriers were common but were not independently associated with satisfaction after adjustment. These findings support the need to improve physician–patient communication alongside measures to facilitate appointment scheduling and reduce waiting times. Keywords: patient satisfaction, ambulatory care, cardiology, physician–patient relations, health services accessibility.