Evaluation of customers' satisfaction in hospitals of Tehran (2010)

  Background: There are a lot of hospitals in Tehran and the competition among them will be increased gradually. In this situation, achieving customers' satisfaction is of great importance.   Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the customers' satisfaction in hospitals of regions 1 & 2 in Tehran.   Methods: This analytical study was performed in all hospitals (25 hospitals) of regions 1 & 2 in Tehran from April to September 2010. 250 patients were selected by simple random sampling method. Finally, 150 questionnaires were suitable for analysis. Data were collected by questionnaire and the research model was designed according to Zineldin's Model. The data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation model (SEM) and T-test.   Findings: T-statistic for the quality of offered service, the process of offering service, skills - experience level of medical staff, communication - information interaction, the quality of hospital environment, the quality of physical equipments, and the hospital's reputation were equal to 4.91, 4.76, 6.97, 7.89, 7.02, 4.03, 3.89. All studied factors affected the customers' satisfaction in the hospitals.   Conclusion: According to the results, it is suggested that hospitals should pay more attention to the factors which influenced patients' satisfaction.