Analysis on Relationship between Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction of General Hospitals

Abstract

One of the most significant complaint factors for patients using medical institutions is various waiting times that occur in the course of receiving medical services. Therefore, this study tries to analyze relationship between waiting time and service value of general hospitals. This study was conducted on 265 outpatients at 10 general hospitals all over the country from July 01 to July 31, 2019, and the analysis results are as follows. First, even if the utilization of time and waiting procedures for medical treatment were fair while waiting for medical treatment, it did not affect the perceived waiting time. Second, the utilization of waiting time did not affect acceptability, but the procedural fairness had a positive effect on acceptability. Third, the patient’s acceptability resulting from sufficient empathy had effect of lowering the perceived waiting time. Fourth, the patient’s acceptable range increased customer satisfaction and further enhanced service value. According to the above results of this study, it is found that an increase in waiting time lowers customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is closely related to service value. Accordingly, medical institutions will have to make various efforts to shorten waiting times to improve customer satisfaction and service value.