oa Assessment of service quality in public and private pediatric healthcare in Qatar

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of pediatric services in public and private hospitals in Qatar. Methods: The objectives were achieved using a modified SERVQUAL scale. Data from 179 participants who visit public/private hospitals in Qatar were analyzed to find the gaps between expectations and perceptions. Results: The findings revealed that customers' expectations exceeded their perceptions, meaning that they were dissatisfied with the level of healthcare services rendered by public and private healthcare settings. The results indicated that there was a negative quality gap on each service quality scale dimension. Responsiveness and empathy variables had their highest service gaps score in public hospitals; reliability and assurance received their highest negative scores in private hospitals. Conclusions: The managers in these hospitals should work towards improving the quality of their services particularly the responsiveness and empathy dimensions.