An empirical investigation to determine patient satisfaction factors at tertiary care hospitals in India

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate and test a six-factor model that explains considerable variation in patient satisfaction with tertiary care hospitals in India. Design/methodology/approach – The data of this study were collected through a systematic randomly distributed questionnaire. A pre-tested and contextually prepared structured questionnaire was used to gather 436 responses from selected tertiary care hospitals located in Hyderabad. Descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha are used to measure the internal consistency of the scale using the computer software SPSS 20.0. Findings – The findings of this study highlight six distinct dimensions of patient satisfaction and the relationships among them. Positive and significant relationships among the dimensions and patient satisfaction have been found. Research limitations/implications – One limitation to this study was the inclusion of the selected tertiary care hospitals in Hyderabad city and responses are collected from inpatients who were admitted in the surgical departments of these hospitals. Practical implications – This instrument would enable patients to provide feedback to hospitals regarding the quality of health care received by them. Hospitals could use this feedback to analyze their performance, satisfaction and benchmark their performance against competitive hospitals. This study has directs implications for health care service providers to provide quality of services to patients, to maintain high level of patient’s satisfaction and re-intentions. Originality/value – Few studies identified and examined the factors that influence patient’s perceived satisfaction. This study adds value by investigating what factors influences patient satisfaction among selected tertiary care hospitals located in Hyderabad.