Isaac K Baidoo, Abeku A Asare-Kumi, Ezekiel NN Nortey and Epaphras Baffoe Kodom
Objectives: Patient’s perception of the quality of health care is essential to the health and general well-being of the patient. This paper aims to measure the perceived satisfaction of patients with the quality of healthcare given at the University of Ghana hospital and to profile patient perceptions on healthcare at the hospital.
Methods: Systematic sampling of patients over a two week period at the hospital requested patients to rate the quality of healthcare they received under the five SERVQUAL categories. Out-patient and In-Patients perceptions on healthcare quality at the hospital were used for this study. The combination of SERVQUAL methodology and profile analysis was adopted.
Results: Patients rated empathy as the leading determinant of service quality at the University of Ghana hospital. A significant difference exists between patients with health insurance and those without health insurance with regards to their perception of service quality. Patients without health insurance on average gave lower ratings than their insured counterparts. The results indicate that empathy from caregivers is the most significant dimension of health service quality to the patient.
Conclusion: Management could focus on promoting and improving on the empathy shown by caregivers to patients. However a patient’s perception of health service quality is influenced by whether or not the patient is insured. Since those with insurance on average are more satisfied an accelerated effort towards universal insurance coverage will improve the quality of care at hospitals.
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