Patient Preferences for Hospital Quality: Case Study of Iran

Abstract

Background: Due to the importance and uniqueness of the characteristics of the health sector, one of the most important priorities of the Ministry of Health is measuring the efficiency and quality of services which are provided for the people who refer to the health sectors. In all health systems, responding to the needs and wishes of patients is a crucial priority. Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to prioritize the features of the services from the perspective of patients, by applying the Logit model. Materials and Methods:This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study and in terms of results it can be classified to an applied study. Data were collected by a questionnaire filled by 330 patients in Imam Khomeini hospital, and for estimating the utility function the software STATA version 10 was applied. In this study the preferences of patients who admitted to hospitals were identified by calculating the marginal utility of the characteristics, where we also used Marginal Rate substitutions (MRS). Results: Determination of the marginal utility characteristics shows that the first priority in receiving hospital services is the type of examination, and the last priority in the cleaning service of the sections and restrooms . Waiting time between hospital arrivals and admission has a negative sign which indicates a negative impact on patient preference. Conclusions:The results of this study are consistent with studies by Kara Hanson and Barbara Mc Clean, where in their study they also showed that by the patient's perspective, hospital examination is the most important quality characteristic (coefficient = 2.78). In other words, the ultimate purpose of the hospital visit is the quality of service and examination, where many patients are willing to wait longer or pay higher costs to get the best services.Keywords: Patients' Rights; Hospitals; Discrete Choice Experiment Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: This work helps improve health policy in hospitals. Due to the unique characteristics of the health centers and, the importance of patient's strength and their association in the decision-making process, this research prioritizes the hospital service features according to patients' point of view by applying logistic modelling.

Patients’ preferences for attributes related to health care services at hospitals in Amhara Region, northern Ethiopia: a discrete choice experiment

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“…Examining the quality and efficiency of services given for the patient is the main concern of the public health sector, and studying patients’ preferences with the quality of hospital services is an important method for evaluation of health services. 1 , 2 Patients differ from each other in their social, biologic, or cultural characteristics as well as in their preferences, and the need for a more patient-centered approach in clinical practice and evaluation studies is widely acknowledged. Previous reports have shown that patients’ preferences have significantly impacted patients’ willingness to use health care services.…”

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“…Therefore, DCE as a quantitative technique enables researchers to gain a broad and in-depth insight into the relative values of every characteristic of the substitutes. [ 10 11 ]…”

Evaluation of Hospital Information Systems in Iran: A Case Study in the Kerman Province

“…Moreover, these systems can increase the legibility of recorded data, reduce medical errors and lead to users' satisfaction (Ahmadian, Nejad, & Khajouei 2015;Jouyani et al, 2013;Vafaee-Najar et al, 2013).…”