Understanding service quality and patient satisfaction in private medical practice: A case study

Abstract

Understanding customers’ views on service quality is critical for any service provider interested in ensuring that they are being responsive to clients. Patients’ service quality perceptions are however often given little or no attention in health service quality improvement programs. In this study data was collected from 220 patients of a private medical practice. The focus was on patients’ service quality perceptions and how these relate to overall satisfaction as well as future behavioural intentions. The findings show that patients’ perceptions on service quality play a significant role in determining their overall satisfaction with a service provider and that patients’ overall satisfaction is critical in determining their future positive behavioural intentions towards a service provider. The implications of the findings are that there is need for patients’ voice to start playing a greater role in the design and evaluation of health care service improvement programs more so in private medical practices. Key words: Service quality, patients’ perceptions, health services, private medical practice, patient satisfaction.