Open AccessPERCEPTION OF PATIENTS REGARDING QUALITY OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES AT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS
Author(s) -
Farrukh Ansar,
Hira Naveed,
Almas Khattak,
Muhammad Saad
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
innovare journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2321-4406
DOI - 10.22159/ijms.2021.v9i3.41334
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , public sector , private sector , medicine , health care , quality (philosophy) , family medicine , test (biology) , descriptive statistics , patient satisfaction , public hospital , medical emergency , nursing , political science , paleontology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , law , biology
Objectives: Patient satisfaction is a significant marker for estimating the quality of medical services being provided at a clinical facility. It also influences the opportune, proficient, and patient-focused provision of quality medical services.
Methods: Data from 768 outdoor patients were collected from four tertiary care hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. Half of the patients were from public sector hospitals, while others were from private hospitals. A self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.896) was structured for data collection. Using SPSS, descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and Chi-square test were used to analyze data.
Results: Overall, 51.4% of patients were satisfied with the services provided to them at hospital Outpatient department. Patients who experienced private sector hospitals (74%) were significantly more satisfied than those who visited the public sector hospitals (29%) (p<0.001). Gender-wise, female patients were more satisfied (58%) than male patients (47%). Insufficient attention of the doctor, the behavior of the supporting staff and inadequate management of disease record were the red flags highlighted by the patients.
Conclusion: The current investigation has shown that quality healthcare is significantly associated with economic conditions; patients’ perspective have expressed that the private sector provides satisfactory medical services at a high expense, whereas the public sector is a less expensive alternative but it lags in the provision of high-quality services and patient satisfaction.