Patients’ Expectations and Perceptions towards Healthcare Services in an Ayurveda Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Introduction
The availability of evidence on service quality assessment from tertiary-level Ayurveda hospitals in Nepal is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the expectations and perceptions of patients and service quality gaps at Tribhuvan University Ayurveda Teaching Hospital (TUATH).

Methods
A descriptive cross-sectional study employing convenience sampling was conducted among 197 samples from OPD/IPD of TUATH from January to September 2023. A validated and modified Nepali version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire, constituting six dimensions - tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and accessibility and affordability—was used to collect data and measured overall and dimension-wise service gap scores. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied to determine statistical significance.

Results
The overall mean perception score (3.03 ± 0.85) was significantly lower than the expectation score (4.54 ± 0.34), showing a considerable negative service gap (−1.51; p < 0.001). Negative service gaps were observed over all six dimensions. The largest gap was found in assurance (−1.87), followed by empathy (−1.65) and tangibility (−1.46). Conduct of health professionals, patient safety, individualized care, interpersonal interaction, physical facilities, and free medicine supply were found among the major shortcomings. The affordability and accessibility dimension had comparatively smaller but still significant gaps.

Conclusion
Overall SERVQUAL dimensions in TUATH found substantial service quality gaps, particularly in assurance, empathy, and tangibility. These results show overall dissatisfaction with healthcare service delivery at TUATH and draw attention to improving critical healthcare service dimensions.