Quality of health care and patient satisfaction: An exploratory investigation of the 5Qs model at Turkey

Purpose - The aim of this research is to examine the major factors affecting patients' perception of cumulative satisfaction and to address the question whether patients in Istanbul evaluate quality of health care to be similar or different to that of the Kazakhstani, Egyptian and Jordanian patients. Design/methodology/approach - A conceptual model including behavioural dimensions of patient-physician relationships and patient satisfaction has been used for approach. As the empirical research setting, this study concerns people who are or were patients once in Istanbul hospitals. Findings - The questionnaire was taken from another research regarding Egyptian and Jordanian medical clinics. The same research was also done by the authors in Kazakhstan in 2008. A total of 48 items (attributes) of the newly developed five quality dimensions (5Qs) by the second author were identified to be the most relevant. Practical implications - The results of this study can be used by the hospitals to reengineer and redesign creatively their quality management processes and the future direction of their more effective health care quality strategies. Originality/value - A 5Qs model to measure the patients' satisfaction of medical care is proposed as for previous studies for Kazakhstanian, Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals. As mentioned previously the 5Qs model encompasses technical, functional, interaction, infrastructure and the atmosphere qualities and services. The results can be used by the hospitals to reengineer and redesign creatively their quality management processes and the future direction of their more effective health care quality strategies.