C Rajendran

While underscoring the importance of customer (patient) satisfaction in fostering efficient delivery of healthcare services, researchers from the developed world explored the whole gamut of influencing factors, ranging from empathy of physicians and hospital infrastructure to courtesy of paramedical staff and hospital image. The hospitals in the developing world present distinct business models and service quality variations that warrant context-specific examination. In the Indian healthcare system, patients are always accompanied by their attendants who perform a plethora of functions, including facilitating the execution of physicians' recommendations. In many Indian hospitals the presence of an attendant is perceived more as an institutional norm than a personal convenience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderators and mediators in the context of healthcare service quality from the perspectives of patients and their attendants in India. The study employs a questionnaire-survey approach to obtain the perceptions of patients and attendants. The study reveals that attendants play an indispensable role in Indian context. Attendants provide physical and mental support to patients, which result in patients' satisfaction with the hospital's services. Further, attendants, by supplementing hospital activities, serve as a bridge between service providers and patients. The attendants have been found to subordinate their own personal comfort levels to the care provided by the hospital to the patients. The current research is the earliest study that explicitly addresses the role of attendants in the context of healthcare service delivery in India.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide strategic recommendations to Indian hospital administrators for improving service quality by analysing performance dimensions and the importance attached to them by patients and attendants. Design/methodology/approach – Patient and attendant perceptions were collected using a questionnaire. Findings – Patients and attendants have different perceptions. Different customers have different needs of which providers need to be aware to better serve their consumers. Research limitations/implications – The study captured only 408 patient and attendants’ perceptions – a 32 per cent response rate. Practical implications – Results enable hospital administrators to develop appropriate strategies to improve their structure and function by analysing their strengths and weaknesses regarding their tangible and intangible assets. Originality/value – The study included attendants, specifically in an Indian healthcare context.