PATIENTS’ PERSPECTIVE ABOUT HEALTH CARE SERVICE QUALITY IN PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN PUNJAB
Keywords:
service quality, private hospitals, SERVQUAL, patient satisfactionAbstract
Defining and measuring the quality of service has been a major confront in healthcare industry. With recent progresses in healthcare, quality has become an opposite issue. Quality of service has been discovered to be the key factor in search for sustainable competitive benefit, differentiation and excellence in the service sector. So it is very important for the healthcare stakeholders to pay heed on quality attributes.
Keeping in mind the above observations, the present study was designed and conducted to determine the service quality the private hospitals of Punjab. This study was conducted on primary as well as secondary sources. In this paper the SERVQUAL instrument was used to check the quality of service provided by the hospitals. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was used to assess the patients’ expectations and perceptions of service quality that included 34 items across 5 dimensions: tangibility (8 items), reliability (5 items), responsiveness (9 items), assurance (5 items) and empathy (7 items). The Sampling unit of the study was limited to 100 bedded private hospitals in Punjab. The inclusion criteria comprised of adult patients aged 18 years and above who stayed at least 24 hours in the hospital. About 400 in-patients were interviewed using this structured questionnaire.
The results also illustrated that patients’ expectations had not been met with the observed dimensions. The result also showed that there was no relationship between age and patients’ satisfaction. This paper also provides insights into the specific factors of the quality of hospital services that need to be dealt with to meet the needs of patients. This would provide organization with knowledge to concentrate on probable deficits and improve the level of service quality in the private hospitals.
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