Factors affecting patient satisfaction: an exploratory study for quality management in the health-care sector

This study examines the factors affecting patient satisfaction and their relationships with respondent demographics for tertiary-level health-care services. Data were collected from in-patients of multispecialty hospitals located in northern India with the help of a structured questionnaire. Factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test techniques have been employed to analyse the data. The study has revealed that factors which affect patient satisfaction are affordability and convenience, fulfilment of clinical requirements, nursing and staff care, general behaviour of doctors, registration and administrative procedures, infrastructure and amenities, professional behaviour of doctors and facilities at reception and outpatient department area. It has also been found that health insurance and various categories of respondent demographics, namely gender, residence, education and occupation are significantly different statistically (P < .05) with respect to the identified factors.