[Service encounters and customer satisfaction in hospitals]

This research is about service encounters and customer satisfaction in hospitals. The study is exploratory and was aimed at identifying the service encounters maintained in hospitals and the satisfaction attributes related to them. The data were collected with hospital professionals and customer, in 2003, by means of interviews using the critical incident technique. The content analysis evidentiated the satisfaction attributes of the service encounters regarding admission, hospitalization and discharge procedures. The results provide important information to hospital service managers, allowing for the planning of customer-focused actions.