Identifying Key Factors of Patient Satisfaction Based on Servqual and Dematel

Today, the competition between hospitals is very cruel. So the hospital must retain as many patients as possible by increasing satisfaction of the patients. In order to find the key factors of influencing patient satisfaction, this study first designed 27 criteria of the hospital service and constructed the questionnaire based on SERVQUAL model for the patients or their families. Then six major criteria were selected based on the analysis of the returned questionnaire. The second survey developed based on decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to evaluate the importance of the six major criteria. The results show that highly skilled medical staff is the most essential criterion, and effectiveness in handling patient complaint, detailed description of the patient’s condition, and staff with good communication skills, are also important criterions. Therefore, the hospital should invest more in training the professional competence, communication skills and problem-solving abilities of the medical staff rather than buying more machines.