Approach to Identify Factors That Enhance Patient Satisfaction in Public Hospital, a Case Study

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is one of the most common indicators in determining the quality of healthcare. It is always associated with the whole treatment experience since the moment they enter the medical facilities to the time they are discharged. With an increasing constraint on the resources and demand from the customers, public healthcare service has been put under a higher pressure to continuously seek improvement to deliver better services. The main objective for this study is to demonstrate a practical approach on identifying the important factors in enhancing the patient’s satisfaction in public hospital in two main areas; the Emergency department (ED) and Medical wards (MW). For this study, a methodology which incorporates staff inputs as an important element for the development of the survey questions to determine the features that could increase the patient satisfaction that has been proposed. Based on the Kano model analysis, the main factors that contributes to the enhancement in patient satisfaction are the availability of sufficient parking area, Wi-Fi services at the ED, sleeping chairs and wheelchairs at the MW, and an effective staff communication to the patients and their relatives