Healthcare service quality and patient satisfaction: a conceptual framework

Purpose - The current study aims at developing a conceptual framework containing original dimensions of SERVQUAL and adding two modified dimensions: patient safety and medical professionalism in healthcare service quality (HSQ) model. Design/methodology/approach - An extensive review of HSQ literature pertaining to its dimensions and models with respect to content analysis and bibliometric studies of service quality in healthcare and SERVQUAL in healthcare were performed on 47 relevant studies, 4,689 and 529 documents after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Google Scholar and Scopus were the primary sources to find the relevant documents. Findings - The content analysis was conducted to group HSQ dimensions into seven themes. Co-occurrence analysis of author keywords was performed in VOSviewer to find the links between service quality, SERVQUAL and proposed dimensions. Organization and analysis of different HSQ models and dimensions emerged from the literature result in a comprehensive conceptual framework comprising modified dimensions of healthcare service quality - medical professionalism and patient safety. Originality/value - SERVQUAL is a widely accepted, tested and validated model in perceiving HSQ from the lenses of patients. But it does not cover the complex nature of healthcare service, thus requiring modification and the addition of new contextual dimensions. Therefore, a comprehensive conceptual framework is developed to validate and test quantitatively.