The Mediating Effect of Patient Satisfaction in the Patients' Perceptions of Healthcare Quality - Patient Trust Relationship

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between patient perception of healthcare quality, patient satisfaction, and patient trust and the mediating effect of patient satisfaction. Study aim also to test the significance of socio-demographic variables in determining healthcare quality, patient satisfaction, and patient trust. Patient perception of healthcare quality was measured using modified SERVQUAL model and results indicate that it appears to be a consistent and reliable scale. Finding indicate that, while patient perception of healthcare quality has a strong and positive impact on the patient satisfaction and patient trust , patient satisfaction has also significant impact on patient trust. Moreover, patient satisfaction appears to play an important mediating role in increasing the strength of the association between healthcare quality and patient trust in healthcare service provider. Results confirm the varying importance of some socio-demographic variables on patient perception of healthcare quality, patient satisfaction, and patient trust. It has also been found that private hospitals have higher overall healthcare quality than public hospitals. Study indicate that patient of private hospitals are more satisfied and feel more trust in healthcare service provider than public hospitals.