Quality of health care and patient satisfaction

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this research is to examine the major factors affecting patients' perception of cumulative satisfaction and to address the question whether patients in Istanbul evaluate quality of health care to be similar or different to that of the Kazakhstani, Egyptian and Jordanian patients.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model including behavioural dimensions of patient‐physician relationships and patient satisfaction has been used for approach. As the empirical research setting, this study concerns people who are or were patients once in Istanbul hospitals.FindingsThe questionnaire was taken from another research regarding Egyptian and Jordanian medical clinics. The same research was also done by the authors in Kazakhstan in 2008. A total of 48 items (attributes) of the newly developed five quality dimensions (5Qs) by the second author were identified to be the most relevant.Practical implicationsThe results of this study can be used by the hospitals to reengineer and redesign creatively their quality management processes and the future direction of their more effective health care quality strategies.Originality/valueA 5Qs model to measure the patients' satisfaction of medical care is proposed as for previous studies for Kazakhstanian, Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals. As mentioned previously the 5Qs model encompasses technical, functional, interaction, infrastructure and the atmosphere qualities and services. The results can be used by the hospitals to reengineer and redesign creatively their quality management processes and the future direction of their more effective health care quality strategies.