Investigating The Patient Satisfaction Within Romanian Public And Private Hospitals

Although it is not commonly accepted within healthcare services industry, the importance of marketing is more and more recognized nowadays by the organizations activating in the field. Current perception resides in a series of factors as: ethical aspects involved in the delivery process; special characteristics of the market; particular profile and behavior of the consumers of healthcare services and probably because of the inadequate understanding of the marketing role in the life of an organization. A deep analysis in the field of healthcare services will emphasize not only its complexity, but also its interdisciplinary feature under many aspects, as it is an area where many fields of interest are intersecting, both economic and social. It also reveals a particular field of study with many particular features - considered a sensitive field (Popa and Vladoi 2010: 232). Generated using the SERVQUAL model, the data presented in the paper are the result of a quantitative research designed to measure and compare the patient/client satisfaction degree for public and private medical services provided by the Romanian hospitals. The aim of the research is to identify and to measure the gap that appears between the patient/clientâ€(tm) expectations and perceptions regarding the delivered services; to identify the potential profile of the private Romanian hospitalsâ€(tm) clients regarding the demographic features and also to pin-point correlations between the image created in the mind of the Romanian patients/clients and the type of medical services (public or private) they were using. We consider that the results of this research are valuable for the managers of the medical units in order to initiate series of actions aiming to improve the quality of their services and, as a result the patient/clientsâ€(tm) satisfaction degree. Later being one of the most important performance indicators of an organization that activates in a highly competitive business environment. We also consider this research may be useful in the process of improving the quality of the medical services in Romania, which must be a priority for any medical unitsâ€(tm) management and for the society as a whole. Present paper intends to lay foundation for future research, tailored to correlate the quality culture for the Romanian hospitals and the satisfaction degree of their patients/clients.