Dissatisfaction between medical providers and patients in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Abstract The continuous increase in dissatisfaction among patients toward health care providers remains high in the Republic of Kazakhstan. To confirm the researcher’s previous results and see any other possible outcomes in the present study, we decided to investigate randomly selected patients and health care providers from both private and state medical hospitals. We investigated the possible factors in miscommunication between health care providers and patients to understand and discuss this demand and to develop recommendations for further improvement. The cross-sectional study of 500 patients (response rate, 85.4%) and 500 health care providers (response rate, 86.4%) from some private and state hospitals in the city of Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, was carried out based on their answers from a questionnaire containing the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS) and scales assessing life and job satisfaction, job effort-job reward balance, and patient evaluation of communication. Our study showed that the majority of health care providers and even patients were doctor-centered. The patient-centered orientation of health care providers was negatively correlated with age (P=0.000218) and life satisfaction (P=0.000001). In patients, contrarily, patient-centeredness was enhanced by higher life satisfaction (P=0.040), although negatively correlated with age (P=2.659E-21). This study has demonstrated that younger health care providers and those with lower life satisfaction are more patient-centered. Older respondents and those with higher life satisfaction, in contrast, reported doctor-centered attitudes. The majority of younger patients have a stronger belief in good health associated with patient-centered care whereas the older population preferred a more doctor-centered care. In all patients, the preference of patient-centered care was associated with higher satisfaction in life.