Abstract
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.
