Service Quality In Bangalore Hospitals – An Empirical Study | R. Rohini & B. Mahadevappa

In today?s highly competitive environment, hospitals are increasingly realizing the need to focus on service quality as a measure to improve their competitive position. Customer based determinants and perceptions of service quality, therefore, play an important role when choosing a hospital. In this paper, we present a service quality perception study-undertaken in five hospitals in Bangalore city. The well-documented ?Service Quality Model? was used as a conceptual framework for understanding service quality delivery in health care services. The measuring instrument used in this study was the SERVQUAL questionnaire for the measurement of Gap 5 and Gap 1. An analysis covering a sample of 500 patients revealed that there exists an overall service quality gap between patients? perceptions and their expectations. An analysis covering a sample of 40 management personnel revealed that a gap between managements? perception about patients? expectations and patients? expectations of service quality also exists. The study suggests improvements across all the five dimensions of service quality – tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.