Hospital structure and consumer satisfaction

This study examines the relationship between hospital structural characteristics and patient satisfaction with hospital care. Teaching hospitals and private hospitals were expected to receive higher ratings of patient satisfaction than were nonteaching and government-controlled hospitals, because they generally are reputed to be technologically superior. Results show that, in general, most patients are satisfied with their hospital stays, but they are clearly more dissatisfied with their stays in teaching hospitals. Although a number of other correlates of patient satisfaction with the hospital stay are identified, no measure succeeds in reducing to insignificance the strong relationship between teaching status and dissatisfaction. Some suggestions are made as to why teaching hospital receive relatively poor evaluations from their patients.