HEALTHCARE SERVICE QUALITY AND PATIENT SATISFACTION: A STUDY ON GOVERNMENT АYURVEDIC HOSPITALS IN ANURADHAPURA DISTRICT

Abstract

For many years, Ayurveda has been practiced extensively in Sri Lanka by traditional practitioners as well as licensed practitioners. The Ayurvedic sector is currently facing competition from western medical practitioners and traditional practitioners in providing healthcare services. However, there is no clear evidence about how the patients/consumers have perceived the service quality of the Government Ayurvedic hospitals and institutions. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to identify the impact of service quality on patient satisfaction in government Ayurvedic hospitals in Anuradhapura district. The study was carried out using 124 patients who received the service from the government Ayurvedic hospitals in Anuradhapura district through convenience sampling technique. A conceptual model was developed using service quality as the independent variable and patient satisfaction as the dependent variable to conduct this study. The five dimensions of the 5Q Model such as quality of the object, quality of the process, quality of interaction, quality of infrastructure and quality of atmosphere were used to measure the service quality dimensions of the hospitals. The regression analysis results revealed that the quality of the object, quality of the process, and quality of interaction positively contributed to the patient's satisfaction while the quality of infrastructure and the quality of atmosphere dimensions negatively contributed to patients’ satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary to take appropriate actions to improve the quality of infrastructure and the quality atmosphere to improve the service quality of the hospitals and to enhance extensively the patients’ satisfaction with the Government Ayurvedic hospitals particularly in Anuradhapura district and generally in Sri Lanka.