Factors contributing towards patient’s choice of a hospital clinic from the patients’ and managers’ perspective

Abstract

IntroductionGiven the competitive nature of the health market and the multiplicity of factors that may contribute towards patient’s choices of a hospital, patients’ needs and preferences for a hospital must be considered in the planning and decision making of hospitals and health care organizations. This study aimed to identify the factors that contribute to patient’s choices of a clinic and the importance of each factor.MethodsA mixed-method approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data in two phases. The study was conducted in a hospital clinic in 2014. Qualitative data were collected by face-to-face semi-structured interviews of a sample of 22 managers and heads of outpatient wards. The self-administered questionnaire designed for this study collected quantitative data from a stratified random sample of 381 patients referred to this clinic. The qualitative data were analyzed by a system of coding, while parametrical statistical analyses were conducted to analyze the quantitative data using the independent-samples t-test and ANOVA in SPSS software, version 21.0.ResultsThe qualitative data indicated that there were 21 factors that may contribute to patient’s choices of a clinic, and these factors were classified into six categories, i.e., facilities and physical assets, physicians and employees, location and place, services, price, and promotion. Among the 16 questions studied in the quantitative questionnaire, the highest and lowest means were related to “appropriate clinic environment” (2.47 ± 0.58) and “advertising through TV and radio, the Internet, newspapers, etc.” (1.77 ± 0.75), respectively. There were significant associations between “having experienced and responsive personnel, including physicians and employees” and the patient’s gender and frequency of referrals, between “belonging to the Armed Forces” and the patient’s age and frequency of referrals, between “advertising through TV and radio, the Internet, newspapers, etc.” and shifts and frequency of referrals, between “inadequate facilities and poor quality of services provided in other health care organizations of the Armed Forces” and “adornment and good behavior of staff” and shifts (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe most significant contributing factors to attract patients were the “physicians and employees,” and “the clinic’s environment.” Therefore, it is essential for clinic managers and heads of outpatient wards to focus on and strengthen these two factors. Also, since the means of the factors were better in the morning shift, the employees should perform their duties properly and consistently in all shifts.

How marketing mix (7Ps) affect the patients’ selection of a hospital: experience of a low-income country

“…In Ardabil, Iran (2014), a study detected 13 factors effective in selecting a hospital and classified them into three groups of hospital services, social factors, and hospital facilities, with the hospital services being the major factor affecting such a selection decision [11]. In hospitals affiliated with the Iranian Army (2016), the authors claimed that two factors "physicians and staff," followed by "clinic facilities," had the greatest impact on patients' willingness to choose a clinic [12].…”

Factors affecting customers selection of community pharmacies: The mediating effect of branded pharmacies and the moderating effect of demographics

“…Convenience has been studied extensively in the literature (Bahadori et al, 2016;Merks et al, 2014;Aboumoghli & Alabdallah, 2012;Chamhuri & Batt, 2009;Al-Hassan, 2009) and it is the third most important factor affecting pharmacies selection in Amman. The importance of this factor stemmed from the urgent need of pharmacy products in most cases, as the majority of the products sought from pharmacies are prescribed medicines, which normally lead the customers to choose the nearest pharmacy to their home, work, or physician's clinic.…”

“…Hence, the researchers reviewed literature for both of the factors affecting selection of stores while buying fast moving consumer goods and the factors affecting pharmacy and clinic/hospital selection. Based on these studies the following factors were selected: Convenience, Physical Environment, Sales Promotions, Qualified and Experienced Pharmacists and Customer Service (Bahadori et al, 2016;Motawni & Devendra, 2014;Merks et al, 2014;Eroglu, 2013;Malewski et al, 2015;Abdul Kareem, 2013;Chamhuri and Batt, 2009).…”

Modeling and Validation of the Hospital’s Ambulatory and Inpatients Operations Using a Non-Homogenous Discrete Time Markovian Chains

“…In the other side, the arrival of scheduled patients is a nonstatic parametric distribution as there is many reasons that may change or cause tardiness of a patient's decision to go to a hospital. We categorize these factors in three main blocks: financial, natural, and cultural [36]. We consider the following: We also define ∑ ∑ , as the total number of service completions and ∑ ∑̃, the sum of patients of different levels currently in service.…”