Identifying Factors Affecting Patient Satisfaction using the Kano Model

The Kano model has been used widely in several industries to understand complex customer needs, improve service quality, influence service consumption, and add value to the service that enhances customer satisfaction. In recent years, the Kano model has gained popularity in the healthcare industry and has been employed to improve patient satisfaction as a method of managing rising costs and elevating service quality needs. At a university, student health services plays a crucial role in enhancing student achievement, promoting student engagement, and improving as well as maintaining the wellness of the campus community. Although various healthcare policies and improvement strategies are constantly deployed to improve patient satisfaction, the customer needs related to the student health services remain ambiguous and debatable as the student base is vastly diverse and services offered are varied. The purpose of this paper is to apply the Kano model to elicit customer needs related to a student health services unit of a university and identify the service quality attributes that influence patient satisfaction. The results of this study would provide healthcare personnel insights into patient needs associated with the service quality attributes that have greater impact on student satisfaction. Keywords: Customer needs, customer satisfaction, healthcare, Kano model, patient needs, patient satisfaction, service quality, student health services, student satisfaction, university