Patient satisfaction with health care service providers in Pakistan. A review of public sector hospitals of Lahore

Research Paper from the year 2016 in the subject Medicine - Public Health, , language: English, abstract: This study identified the most important factors affecting the patient satisfaction in the public sector hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan. Surveys and interviews were conducted with 100 patients in order to come out with primary data. Furthermore, an appropriately structured questionnaire was excerpted from the available literature, as well as expert opinions relating to patient satisfaction with healthcare professionals. The questionnaire data was then interpreted through SPSS-20.

Background:
Appropriate and improved strategies for quality assurance in the Punjab Public sector hospitals, Pakistan can be evolved with the appropriate understanding of factors influencing quality of medical service. Patient satisfaction is itself a critical controversy for the healthcare professionals/Government. Patient satisfaction is a complicated attitude because a horde of variables have been pinpointed as its interpreters. However, the study is aimed to ascertain the factors affecting the quality Healthcare services providers within Lahore Public Sector Hospitals, Punjab, Pakistan.

Objective of the Study:
The study was conducted chastely in the public interest and in order to facilitate the Govt. of Punjab, Pakistan to deal with its maximum potential to bring about ultimate satisfaction level of the patients with a foremost objective of providing fairly, attainable and effective healthcare services.
The study was conducted
- To analyze factors impacting patient satisfaction in Public sector hospitals
- To rank the most important factors affecting patient satisfaction
- To evaluate the necessary steps taken by the hospital administrators for patient satisfaction.

Conclusion:
The study ascertained the 30 most important factors resulting in poor level of patient satisfaction. Results identified that majority of the factors out of 30 factors lie in Medium and high Severity zone (with a rating between 3.4 to 4.2 out of total 5). These factors also require foremost attention by the Government. After pointing out the 30factors and their severity level, the study revealed the top 12 most important factors on the basis of Impact Factor and Relative Importance Index.