A STUDY ON MEDICAL SERVICE QUALITY AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON LEVEL OF PATIENT SATISFACTION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SELECTED MAJOR MULTI- SPECIALTY HOSPITALS CHENNAI CITY

The increasing literacy rate and awareness and increasing levels of income and the evolution of the media, has brought the Indian consumer closer to demand quality health care. In the light of these developments, health care providers need to have a closer look at the perception of their patients and try to provide quality medical and health services to meet their expectations. In this study the researcher tries to identify the Service Quality Gap for the Multispecialty hospitals in Chennai City. Servqual instrument is the used to measure the patient satisfaction. Five dimensions in service quality (Servqual), tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance (Parasuraman, Zeithamal, & Berry, 1985) is considered for this research. Using Multi stage sampling method, the samples were selected. The data required was collected through the structured SERVQUAL questionnaire and then it was analyzed using SPSS with Chi-square test, Multiple Regressions, Paired t Test, Reliability test. The results showed that patient’s expectations had not been met in any of the examined dimensions and their consent has not been achieved. It seemed that necessary for managers and relevant authorities to plan and pay special attention to this important issue