Service Quality Assessment in Health Care Sector: The Case of Durres Public Hospital

Abstract The aim of this paper is to assess the quality of services in the public regional hospital of Durres, as one of the most important in Albania, considering that the quality is a key parameter in performance evaluation. Patients are the main actors in appraising and assessing the quality, therefore this study is based on a questionnaire completed by 200 hospitalized patients between July and September, 2015. The survey is based on "SERVQUAL" model using five dimensions of service quality such as: empathy, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and reliability all essential in measuring the perceptions and expectations of patients in each of them. Data elaboration and processing identify main factors affecting the overall patients' preferences where the findings in particular demonstrate positive results towards quality services without significant differences between expectations and actual perceptions of patients. In this context conclusion and results found should be taken in considerations as very important aspects for hospital managers and also policy makers when dealing with decisions affecting service quality assessment.