Eba’a Dasan Barghouthi and Asma Imam
Background: Patient satisfaction is one of the important indicators in the health system that should be considered when evaluating the quality of health services provided and the impact of accreditation systems. This study aims to assess the level of patient satisfaction in accredited and non-accredited hospitals in Palestine. Methods: Quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design used to compare patient satisfaction in two Palestinian hospitals. The researcher measured the patient satisfaction between October and November 2016 using the SERVQUAL tool to assess five dimensions of quality (reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness). The sample size included was 332 inpatients, who were recruited by the researcher through convenient sampling method, and the data was analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results: The patients have a high level of satisfaction with a total mean of (4.34) out of (5) and a (0.70) standard deviation. The results indicated that there are statistically significant differences at the level (P ≤ 0.05) between the means of patient satisfaction relating to patient demographic characteristics (with the exception of gender), and also indicated that there are no statistically significant differences related to hospital characteristics. Moreover, for all satisfaction dimension patients have more satisfaction in non-accredited hospitals than accredited ones. Conclusion: The study indicated that there are no significant differences between the means of patient satisfaction attributed to accreditation status. The results reinforce that the patient perspective should also be given much importance in the health system, and certifies that it should be taken into consideration to ensure the quality of services provided by healthcare organizations.
