Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42760989›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2026

Regional variations in inpatient satisfaction: a nationwide analysis of ministry of health hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

Eid Khulaif Daeab, Mansour A Almanaa, Yazeed I Alashban, Asma S Alrushud, Omar A Alsadon, Essam S Almutleb, Ali Alsaqr, Dara Aldisi, Mahmoud M A Abulmeaty, Waleed Alqarni and 1 more

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Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Eid Khulaif Daeab *Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mansour A Almanaa *Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Yazeed I AlashbanDepartment of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Asma S AlrushudDepartment of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Omar A AlsadonDental Health Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Essam S AlmutlebOptometry Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ali AlsaqrOptometry Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dara AldisiDepartment of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mahmoud M A AbulmeatyDepartment of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Waleed AlqarniPatient Experience Center, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mourad A M Aboul-SoudCenter of Excellence in Biotechnology Research (CEBR), College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a critical indicator of healthcare quality and a key driver for improvement in hospital services. This study aimed to assess the levels and regional variations in inpatient satisfaction across all 20 Ministry of Health (MOH) regional health clusters in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A nationwide retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted using anonymized survey data from 90,867 inpatient respondents collected through the MOH Patient Experience Measurement Program. The dataset captured patient experiences across multiple domains, including overall care, staff hygiene, physician communication, waiting times, and pain management. As data were ordinal (five-point Likert scale), non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis Results: Differences between clusters were statistically significant in every domain (all Holm-adjusted Discussion: Because most of the modeled variation lies between hospitals rather than between clusters, quality-improvement effort is better targeted at facility level than at cluster level; clusters are accordingly described here as showing higher or lower observed ratings rather than as high- or under-performing. National healthcare policies should focus on standardizing protocols and sharing best practices to ensure equitable, high-quality patient care across all regions.

Indexed as

HospitalsInpatientsPatient SatisfactionQuality of Health CareAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesSaudi ArabiaSurveys and Questionnaireshealthcare qualityhealth clustersinpatient servicesKruskal–Wallis testministry of health Saudi Arabianon-parametric analysispatient satisfactionregional disparities

Identifiers

PMID42760989
PMCPMC13585622

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.