The Contribution of Customer Care to Patient - Satisfaction :

Abstract

The study entitled: “the contribution of customer care to patient-satisfaction” was conducted at the International Hospital Kampala.

The overall objective was to establish the contribution of customer care to patient-satisfaction. The study specifically set out: to determine the level of customer care, to identify the level of patient satisfaction, find out the link between the customer care and patient satisfaction and identify other determinants that influence patient satisfaction at International Hospital Kampala. By design, the case study was both quantitative and qualitative. Primary and secondary sources were used to collect data. The secondary source involved reviewing relevant already existing literature about customer care and patient satisfaction. Primary data was obtained from 201 respondents randomly chosen from the out-patient department of IHK. Questionnaires and key informant interviews were the main data collection tools. The study was a success.

The findings of the study were that there is a low level of customer care exhibited at IHK, patient satisfaction is generally low. Most of the respondents who had been clients for more than 2 years were mostly frustrated with the long waiting they are subjected to at IHK. The study found a strong positive link between customer care and patient satisfaction. It was safe to conclude that customer care in hospitals may not necessarily influence the satisfaction of patients evidenced by the fact that customer care at IHK was of low standards than should have been ideally and that the patients had other considerations from which satisfaction was derived.

The study recommends training the health workers so as to improve on the knowledge, attitude and practices that involve customer care, and that International Hospital Kampala should recruit more health-workers in order to combat the long waiting queues at hospital as noted in the study; motivate the staff members so that they can bridge the link between customer care and patient satisfaction; maintaining the goodwill that the hospital already has since it has been more satisfying than the care according to the study.

Areas of further study derived from this study; the link between staff satisfaction and customer satisfaction in regards to customer care. The study results are not conclusive about the causes of dissatisfaction with outpatient services because the researcher did not have a comparison group.