Effective Factors on Selection of Governmental or Private Hospital with Surgical Patients

ABSTRACT Many factors affect decision-making by patients who seek surgical management and choose hospital for admission. They nclude : The quality of health and medical services, the cost of them, social, puysical, finanical and cultural factors. This study was carried out to make clear, which of the above menitioned factors are more effective than the others. In this study, during summer of 2000, 385 patients attending 4 govermental and 2 private hospitals, were questioned about the relevant factors of choosing the hospital for surgery. The majority of the patients from private hospitals (47%) were working in private sectors and those from the govermental hospitals were housekeeper (42.1%). In govermental hospitals, 25% of patients were high-school graduates and postgraduates. In private hospitals this figure was about 60.2%. The resuls in descending order of frequency were: Financial factors were effective in 89.3%, Hospital facilities and equipments in 82%, Inssurance coverage in 80.3%, The quality of care given by Nureses in 79.6%, Hospital sanitation in 78.8%, Hospital reputation in 57.5%, The history of good service received by family members or friends in 44.7%, The possibility of visit by family members in 43%, Attending residents and students in 58.4%, Waiting period on 31.3%, To give a redction by the hospital in 13.6%, Employed family members in 7.3%, In governmental hospitals, 65.4% and 100% of patients in private hospitals preferd private hospitals for surgery. The results of this study revealed that governmental hospitals have lost their prestige. The findings showed that with improvement of financial situation, all patients will choose private hospital for management. Governmental hospital have to increase the quality of their services with changing the trends