Assessing the quality of patient care: a normative decision view
by Kanwal Nasim; Shahab Alam Malik; Muhammad Zahid Iqbal; Shujah Alam Malik
International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management (IJPQM), Vol. 13, No. 2, 2014

Abstract: This paper aims at assessing the quality of patient care by analysing the relationship between patients' perceptions of and satisfaction with service quality (SQ) in public-sector hospitals. The interaction effect of expected service quality (ESQ) is also assessed. Data collected from the patients admitted in two (for pilot study, N = 95) and five public-sector hospitals (for main study, N = 775) were analysed using SPSS. The results reveal that patients are satisfied with the SQ of hospitals. Moderating role of ESQ is also confirmed. Management of hospital should take initiatives to improve the overall service quality of patient care. Regular feed-back from patients should be taken and rules should be made considering the expectations and requirements of patients. This study attempted to examine the moderating role of ESQ in determining the patients' satisfaction. This supports the normative decision theory, as patients are found making informed decisions before selecting the hospitals. This can be of value to healthcare administration for improving SQ based on patients' feedback.

Online publication date: Sat, 17-May-2014

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management (IJPQM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com