PATIENT SATISFACTION WITH DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES OF A PUBLIC SECTOR TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY USING SERVQUAL® QUESTIONNAIRE

Background & Objectives: Patient satisfaction is a multidimensional concept that consists of client'sperceived needs, their expectations and experience of a health care system. This study aimed to assess patientsatisfaction with pathology and radiology services at a public tertiary care hospital in a Pakistanimetropolitan city.Methods: From August to December 2023, we conducted exit interviews with 434 randomly selected adultpatients at a 1700-bed teaching hospital in Lahore. Using the SERVQUAL® questionnaire, we assessedclient satisfaction and service quality across accessibility, affordability, reliability, responsiveness, andassurance.Analysisinvolved descriptive statistics, patientsatisfaction scoring, and examining socio-demographicfactors with multiple logistic regression.Results: Out of 248 pathology clients, 74 (29.8%) were aged 35-44 years and 127 (51.2%) were female. Of186 radiology clients, 63 (33.8%) were aged 45 or older and 137 (73.7%) were male. Overall, 59% clientsusing pathology and 53% clients using radiology services were satisfied with more females (75%;p=<0.001)were satisfied from radiology service. Only one-third of clients were satisfied with problem resolution andthe availability of a helpline. Higher likelihood of satisfaction from radiology services was found foraffordability (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.12-2.87, p=0.001) and accessibility (OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.05-2.13,p=0.01) service domains, whereas for pathology service, accessibility and level of education were significantdomains of satisfaction.Conclusions: Asignificant proportion of clients at a teaching hospital in a developing country were dissatisfiedwith pathology and radiology services. Key predictors of satisfaction included education level, area ofresidence, responsiveness, accessibility, and affordability.