A Study On Patient Satisfaction In Indira Gandi Co-Operative Hospital, Kochi (ICGH)

Healthcare service quality and patient satisfaction are very fundamental concepts that require attention in healthcare services operations.

Hospitals are expected to ensure better service quality since it results in higher patient satisfaction, profitability, cost reduction, patient loyalty and retention. The present study analyses Patient satisfaction in Indira Gandhi Co-operative Hospital, Kochi by using SERVQUAL Gap analysis Model to understand the difference between patients’ expectations and perceptions.

It is one of the best ways to lead an institution not only to improve their processes, but also to recognize which processes need improvement. The service quality gap ranges from -2.10 to 0.63. The gap score is positive in the case of Empathy (0.004). In the case of dimensions namely; Tangibles, Responsibility, Reliability and Assurance, Patient expectations over reached the perceived level of service shown by the perception score.

This resulted in a negative gap score. Tangibility Dimension has the highest negative gap with a gap score of -0.422. On the other hand, Assurance (-0.060), Responsibility (-0.094) and Reliability (-0.01) Dimensions have only a negligible negative gap score. Since, better perceptions are close to expectations; the higher is the perceived level of quality in these dimensions. After calculating the paired t-test at <0.05 level of significance for the scores obtained for perception and expectation, it is clear that all means of patients’ perception and expectation do not differ significantly.

A slight change in hospital’s policies and practices could nullify the small gap between patients’ expectation and perception of SERVQUAL dimensions.