The effect of patient satisfaction with academic hospitals on their loyalty

Abstract

SummaryObjectivesPatients' loyalty to a health care institution can lead to the aggregation of patients' medical history in an institution and facilitating access to records by health care providers. Considering the increase of the competition between providers, it is important to gain patients' satisfaction, which leads to their return and loyalty. Therefore, this study evaluated the effect of patients' satisfaction with service quality on their loyalty.MethodsA cross‐sectional descriptive and analytical study was carried out in academic hospitals. A sample of 260 patients admitted to these hospitals was recruited. The data gathering tool was an expert‐validated questionnaire which its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, and multivariate regression analysis in SPSS20.ResultsThe mean score of service quality was calculated 74.23 out of 100. Among the quality dimensions, “physician visit” had the highest score with 84.01 ± 20, and the “waiting time” dimension had the lowest score with the mean score of 62.45 ± 27.53. The mean score of patients' loyalty was 67.88 ± 29.79. Satisfaction with the six dimensions of service quality: “cost of services,” “hospital environment,” “delivered services,” “access to physicians and health care institutions,” “provision of information to patients,” and “acquaintance with hospitals” were identified as the most influencing factors on loyalty.ConclusionsThe results showed that patient satisfaction with service quality affects their hospital choices and increases loyalty. In order to increase patient loyalty to academic hospitals, improving the services quality along with delivering cost‐effective cares, improving hospital environment, and providing useful information to patients are recommended.

Predictors of Patient Satisfaction; Quality Dimensions and Demographic Characteristics

“…A signi cant relationship was observed between service cost and patient satisfaction (coe cient = 0.26), that is, patients are satis ed if they perceive that out-of-pocket payments are reasonable in terms of value and quality. The result matches the ndings of previous studies where service costs were found to be one of the important determinants of patient satisfaction (5,25,29) Accessibility and appointment were recognized as two other factors affecting patient satisfaction. These ndings are reinforced by those of previous studies in which accessibility was an important and determining factor in patient satisfaction (13,30).…”

Understanding Patient Satisfaction and Loyalty in Public and Private Primary Health Care

“…Therefore, further steps need to be taken to enhance patient-centered principles in primary health care services. 31 , 32 …”

Promoção da satisfação e lealdade dos pacientes em instituições de saúde: revisão integrativa

“…A satisfação do paciente e a lealdade são construtos consequentes da percepção de valor do serviço (Pevec & Pisnik, 2018). A satisfação foi identificada como tendo um efeito positivo na lealdade do paciente em instituições de saúde (Anabila, 2019;Min et al, 2019;Rostami et al, 2019). Em um desses estudos, os principais determinantes da lealdade foram o custo dos serviços prestados, a avaliação do ambiente, os procedimentos e serviços, o acesso aos provedores de saúde, como equipe médica e de enfermagem, e o fornecimento de informações sobre a assistência (Rostami et al, 2019).…”

“…Ressalta-se que foi encontrada baixa correlação entre o tempo de espera e a lealdade do paciente, ou seja, pacientes que enfrentam maior tempo de espera não relatam desejo de retornar à instituição de saúde e decidem não recomendar a instituição para outras pessoas (Rostami et al, 2019).…”