Assessment of health care service quality and its relationship with patient satisfaction in tertiary care government hospitals

Abstract

Quality assessment in healthcare has become increasingly significant with recent spurge of healthcare providers. It is now essential for hospital managers to assess and measure consumer perspectives and service quality gaps so that any perceived gap in the delivery of service is determined and suitably addressed. A survey was conducted in tertiary government hospitals to assess the service quality provided to the consumers in terms of their expectations, and experiences with the hospital services. newlineA Descriptive -study was conducted in seven cities of India using SERVQUAL as the survey instrument, the instrument being validated for use in the hospital environment. Consumer ratings across five dimensions of the survey instrument were collected and paired in expectation and experience scores and then statistically analysed to highlight service quality in healthcare. newlineThere was a significant lack of quality healthcare service provided by tertiary government hospitals in all major Indian cities. The gaps exist across all the five dimensions of the survey instrument with a statistically significant mean score in expected and experienced services.The research concludes that, there is a significant health care service quality gaps in the delivery of the hospital health care services, which need to be addressed by focused and enhanced efforts by the hospitals and the Government newline