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Valid and reliable measures are required for assessing patient satisfaction meaningfully. The purpose of this paper was to develop and validate a Persian-language in-patient satisfaction questionnaire for patients discharged from Iranian medical and surgical services.

The cross-sectional survey included 400 patients randomly selected from six Tehran hospitals. A total of 405 patients responded to the questionnaire (76.3 percent response). To assess inter-item reliability and construct validity, factor analysis was carried out. Items belonging to each factor and their Cronbach's alpha coefficient were calculated.

A total of seven dimensions were identified: doctor-patient communication; nursing care; convenience; visitors; cleanliness; costs; and general satisfaction. Together, these dimensions explained 60 percent of the variance. All items, except three, revealed loadings above 0.4, while Cronbach's alpha exceeded 0.8 for all dimensions, except visitors (0.66). Patient satisfaction levels were relatively high.

Results must be interpreted cautiously owing to high satisfaction, which should not be considered as comprehensive evidence of high performance without important additional service-performance information. Qualitative studies are recommended to complement the authors' quantitative satisfaction study.

The patient satisfaction questionnaire strives to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing in-patient satisfaction with hospital services in Iran.

In the ever-increasing competitive market of private hospital industry, creating a strong relationship with the customers that shapes patients’ loyalty has been considered a key factor in obtaining market share. The purpose of this paper is to test a model of customer loyalty among patients of private hospitals in Iran.

This cross-sectional study was carried out in Tehran, the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2010. The study samples composed of 969 patients who were consecutively selected from eight private hospitals. The survey instrument was designed based on a review of the related literature and included 36 items. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.

For the service quality construct, three dimensions extracted: Process, interaction, and environment. Both process and interaction quality had significant effects on perceived value. Perceived value along with the process and interaction quality were the most important antecedents of patient overall satisfaction. The direct effect of the process and interaction quality on behavioral intentions was insignificant. Perceived value and patient overall satisfaction were the direct antecedents of patient behavioral intentions and the mediators between service quality and behavioral intentions. Environment quality of service delivery had no significant effect on perceived value, overall satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.

Contrary to previous similar studies, the role of service quality was investigated not in a general sense, but in the form of three types of qualities including quality of environment, quality of process, and quality of interaction.