Patients satisfaction of core health-care business: the mediating effect of the quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment
Abstract
Purpose
Although the quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment influences patient’s overall health-care experience, health-care infrastructure and equipment are not always managed and maintained with the attention required. This is due mainly to the complexity of health-care infrastructure and equipment and shortage of maintenance budget. This study aims to determine if patient’s satisfaction of core health-care business is mediated by the quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional study comprises 622 adult patients at the Physician OPD and Polyclinic of Komfo Anokye Teaching hospital, Tamale Teaching hospital and Cape Coast Teaching hospital in Ghana. Structural equation model Smart PLS was used to analyse the data.
Findings
The study results showed that the quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment has a positive significant influence (mediation) on the relationship between health-care delivery and patient’s satisfaction as well as the relationship between adequacy of health-care resources and patient’s satisfaction. However, it was shown not to have a positive significant influence (mediation) on the relationship between quality of health-care personnel and patients’ satisfaction as well as health-care administrative process and patient’s satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
First, the study findings are centred on cross-sectional data, which capture the opinion of the patients at a specific time period instead of over a period of time. Consequently, in future, though difficult to achieve, a longitudinal study can be piloted to provide more insight. Second, the data was collected from only one country (Ghana); thus, the ability to generalise the results may be a challenge.
Practical implications
The implication of this study is that there is the need to prudently maintain hospital infrastructure and equipment in good working condition as it has a positive effect on patients’ satisfaction of their overall health-care experience.
Originality/value
Most studies have concentrated on patient’s health-care experience. This study extends the knowledge of patient’s health-care experience by determining the mediating role of quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment on the relationship between patient’s satisfaction and core health-care business. There are limited studies of such nature in Ghana. Therefore, this study will provide invaluable empirical data for the health-care sector of a developing African country.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a PhD research project entitled “A Model for the Relationship Between User Satisfaction of Health-care Facilities Management and Core Healthcare Business”, from which other papers are being produced based on different objectives but sharing the same background, methodology and data. The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to the management of Komfo Anokye, Tamale and Cape Coast Teaching Hospitals, all in Ghana, for their support during the data collection stage, as well as all the patients who participated in this research study. The authors also express their profound gratitude to the Kumasi Technical University for providing partial sponsorship for the first author’s PhD research from which the paper is extracted.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.
Citation
Amankwah, O., Choong, W.-W. and Boakye-Agyeman, N.A. (2022), "Patients satisfaction of core health-care business: the mediating effect of the quality of health-care infrastructure and equipment", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFM-12-2021-0154
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited