On the Agreement between Patients’ Perceptions and Expectations about the Quality of Hospital Services

Minimizing the gap and ensuring agreement between patients’ perceptions and expectations is an indication of a better quality of hospital services. This study aimed to examine the agreement between patients’ perceptions and expectations of the quality of hospital services. A cross-sectional design was adopted, and quantitative methods were employed for data collection. The SERVAQUAL tool was used. The sample size was 415 participants. This study was conducted in Jordanian teaching hospitals. The study population was patients who used outpatient clinics in these hospitals. The study found that there is very low agreement between patients’ expectation and their perceptions. Overall, the perceived service quality was significantly lower than the expected service quality across all of the dimensions used to measure the service quality gap (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles). The results suggest regional variation, where patients who sought care at hospitals in Amman have a four-fold higher perception of the quality of services than patients who visited Irbid hospitals. Also, patients who are more highly educated (Diploma, Bachelor, or Higher Studies) have a higher perception than patients who have less than secondary education. Age and gender were found to have no significant association with patients’ perceptions. The findings of this study suggest that there is a gap between patients’ perceptions and expectations. Thus, there is a need to close this gap by improving patient satisfaction with the quality of services.