customers' satisfaction with primary health care: comparison of two district health centers with and without iso certificate in kerman university of medical sciences

background and aims: one of the principles of the quality management systems in organizations is attention to customer centered approach and one of the scales for evaluation of the efficacy of provided services is customer satisfaction. this research aimed to compare satisfaction levels of customers attending primary health care centers in bardsir (with iso certificate) and zarand (without iso certificate) districts affiliated to kerman university of medical sciences. material and methods: this comparative and cross- sectional study was carried out in 2011 with 960 people (n= 480 in each district). the data gathering instrument was a validated self-construct questionnaire including two main parts of general and specialty services for evaluation of satisfaction rate. data were analyzed through spss version 18.0 and using descriptive statistics, chi-square, pearson correlation and logistic regression model. judgment criterion for desired satisfaction was attaining 75% of the score of each part. results: the desired satisfaction level of customers of health centers affiliated to zarand district was more than that of bardsir district (83.3% vs. 70.2%, p <0.01). moreover, there was a significant difference between two districts in regard to satisfaction levels of general services (p <0.05). result of logistic regression model showed no significant relationship between total satisfaction and demographic variables. discussion: as compared with zarand district, implementation of iso quality management system in the bardsir district has not enriched total customers' satisfaction. thus, the utilization of quality management approaches based on needs rather than organizational emotions and fashions are emphasized.