Open AccessService Quality in Rural Healthcare: An Exploration of Expectation Versus Veracity
Author(s) -
Pallawi B. Sangode
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of pharmaceutical research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2456-9119
DOI - 10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i34a31837
Subject(s) - servqual , health care , business , service quality , quality (philosophy) , service (business) , originality , rural area , population , work (physics) , marketing , private sector , medicine , economic growth , environmental health , economics , qualitative research , sociology , engineering , mechanical engineering , social science , philosophy , epistemology , pathology
Purpose: This paper aims to scrutinize the healthcare service quality in the rural population of a developing economy like India. It further aims at analyzing the service quality gap of the healthcare sector as perceived by its customers.
Design/ Methodology/Approach: This paper used the SERVQUAL model to examine the service quality of the health care units. For this study, only public health care units from the rural areas were considered.
Findings: The results entail that the hospitals have little or no provision of necessary infrastructural facilities inside the hospital in terms of medical equipment. The healthcare personnel do not provide personalized attention to the patients. Research
Limitations: The study was limited to rural state-owned hospitals' status; the results and interpretations may not be completely applicable or relevant to the private sector hospitals and urban hospitals.
Practical Implication: The study clearly states that the patients know their expectations in terms of service quality.
Originality/ Value: Vivid research has been done to examine the quality of services provided by the healthcare units, the least of them focusing on the rural front. This study is a genuine work by the authors to understand the healthcare providers' rural population's expectations.