Comparing the quality of private and public hospitals

Abstract

Healthcare is a highly competitive global industry. People accept to travel to remote parts of the world in order to receive the service quality they hope for. Patients usually prefer to go to private hospitals, hoping to receive high service quality. On the other hand, healthcare organizations operating in the public sector are undergoing pressure from governments and the general public to improve quality and compete effectively with their counterparts in the private sector. This paper compares the service quality rendered by private and public hospitals. A questionnaire based on SERVQUAL is developed and tested for this purpose. This questionnaire is found to have five dimensions; namely, empathy, tangibles, reliability, administrative responsiveness and supporting skills. These dimensions, as well as overall service quality, are compared between private and public hospitals. Finally the implications of the results are highlighted for healthcare managers.

Patient satisfaction in Japan

“…The survey instrument was based on scales commonly used in healthcare services investigations. To measure medical service quality attributes we referred to the 22 items from the well-known SERVQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman et al(1985Parasuraman et al( ,1988) and widely used in subsequent studies across different countries (Babakus and Mangold (1992) in the USA; Lam (1997) in Hong Kong; Martinez Fuentes (1999) in Spain; Lim and Tang (2000) in Singapore; Jabnoun and Chaker (2003) in the UEA; Sohail (2003) in Malaysia; Mostafa (2005) in Egypt):…”

A Comparison of Human Elements and Nonhuman Elements in Private Health Care Settings: Customers’ Perceptions and Expectations

“…The t-test confirmed the finding. Jabnoun and Chaker (2003) used SERVQUAL's five dimensions to compare the quality of private and public hospitals. The study showed that the usage of SERVQUAL's five factors were reliable.…”

Predicting Muslim medical tourists' satisfaction with Malaysian Islamic friendly hospitals

“…The patient determined quality literature, however, is not only confined to the SERVQUAL model. Various researchers have also developed service quality concepts across countries using distinct variables (Aagja & Garg, 2010;Jabnoun & Chaker, 2003). Dimensions such as personnel quality, infrastructure, administrative process, clinical care process, social responsibility, and compassion to family and friends, as well as the pleasantness of the surrounding environment were amongst the components investigated, and they were found to affect patient satisfaction.…”