دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی کیفیت خدمات، رضایت مصرف کننده و وفاداری در بیمارستان ها: تفکر برای آینده - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Healthcare industry in developing countries has recorded high growth rate in the recent years. This study seeks to identify the most critical factors in hospitals related to service quality that will ensure survival and success in the future. This study was conducted using the data from the consumers who received services from 40 different private hospitals in Hyderabad, India. Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Service Quality dimensions), patient satisfaction and loyalty to the hospital were the variables considered for this study. A path analysis was done on AMOS V20 in order to compute path coefficients, direct and indirect effects of the variables on patient's satisfaction and also loyalty to the hospital. We found that reliability and responsiveness (not empathy, tangibility, and assurance) impact patients’ satisfaction. Patient's satisfaction is directly related to patients’ loyalty to the hospital. Marital status and age have no impact on the regression weights of the variables analyzed; however, it was found that to some extent gender does.

6. Conclusion

The most important aspects the hospital managers need to focus on, based on the findings of our research, are: (1) timely delivery of services, (2) caring employees, (3) billing accuracy, (4) proper communications about the time of service delivery, (5) promptness of services, and (6) employees’ willingness to help patients. Assurance, tangibility, and empathy matter little presumably due to the patient's dependence on the treating physician's recommendation. Further, it is important to mention that women's satisfaction with service quality has greater impact on patients’ loyalty to hospital while it is not so with the male group.

Reliability and responsiveness (but not empathy, tangibility and assurance) impact patients’ satisfaction. Patient's satisfaction impacts patients’ loyalty to hospital. Reliability and responsiveness are mediated by patient's satisfaction in influencing the loyalty of the patients to hospital. The most important aspects to focus on, as per this research, are: (1) timely delivery of services, (2) caring employees, (3) billing accuracy, (4) proper communications about the time of service delivery, (5) promptness of services, and (6) employees’ willingness to help employees. In other words, employees’ attitude towards patients, their proper communication with patients, and accurate delivery of services are highly critical to hospital's success. Simply stated, Attitude, Communication, and Delivery (ACD Model) are the key to making patients return to the same hospital.