THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY ON PATIENTS’ SATISFACTION: EVIDENCE FROM HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY HIWOT FANA SPECIALISED TEACHING HOSPITAL

The health care industry is undergoing a rapid transformation in service quality which increases customer satisfaction. It can also improve the health-seeking behaviours and uptake of services which contributes to a reduction of morbidity and mortality. Some studies have reported that quality dimensions have a significant impact on patients’ satisfaction. But there are no conclusive results on which dimensions have a significant and insignificant effect on patient satisfaction. Therefore this study aimed to assess the effect of Service Quality on Patient’s Satisfaction in Public Hospitals, particularly at Haramaya University Hiwot Fana Specialised Teaching Hospital. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 clients at Haramaya University Hiwot Fana Specialized Teaching Hospital. Data were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaires containing the SERVQUAL model. Ordinary least square regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval was used to test the associations between the dependent and independent variables. A variable found with a p-value of 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant variable. In this study, the level of patients’ satisfaction was 55.7 %. The mean and standard deviation of patient satisfaction was 4.17±0.70.The most important service quality - dimensions that have an impact on the patient satisfaction were: Assurance (ß=0.37), empathy (ß=0.34), responsiveness (ß=0.16) and reliability (β=0.14), while tangibility does not have a significant influence. Therefore, the findings of study implies special focus should be given on Assurance, empathy, responsiveness and reliability which are vital to quality dimensions in providing services. Efforts should be made on strengthening factors positively associated with service quality dimensions, and more work should be done on components of services quality with the lowest means scores.