KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY
INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE LEARNING

THESIS PROPOSAL
JANUARY 2011

PROPOPOSAL FOR RESEARCH ON

TITLE: Customer Care and Satisfaction Challenges in Mission

Hospitals; A Case Study of St. Patrick's Hospital

CANDIDATE: ANGELA ASANTE - YEBOAH

PG 3100609

SUPERVISOR: MR. ADU GYAMFI

CHAPTER ONE

Background of the study

Healthcare plays a central and powerful role in today's society and in Ghana, a
more critical role. It is a sector that employs more than 57,000 employees and
expends 6.2% on gross domestic product (GDP).
In this industry, each person has a stake and the importance of healthcare will
continue to increase as the ages of the population of Ghana increases and as
accessibility to healthcare worldwide improves. It is a highly sophisticated
profession, and at heart an intensely personal business. Patients interact with
doctors, nurses, pharmacists, security personnel, orderlies and other healthcare
providers. It is this series of interactions that comprise the quality of care and
drives patient satisfaction.

Customer Care involves putting systems in place to maximize customers

satisfaction. High quality services have been shown to be directly linked to
increased market share, profits and savings. Specifically, patients quality
perceptions have been shown to account for 17 - 27% of variation in hospitals
financial measures such as earnings and net revenue. Moreover negative word of
mouth can cost hospitals huge lost revenues.

Increasing evidence that the service aspect of healthcare is closely linked to health
care outcomes has caught the attention of industry leaders. The current health care
consumer is better educated and best informed it has ever been. A health care
organizations ability to satisfy consumer demand for convenience and infomation
can significantly influence the quality of health care it ultimately delivers. . Health
care organizations must address those aspects of service that consumers most
readily appreciate; participation in their own health care and treatment decision
making processes, access to care, relationship between physician; etc.
Thus the hospital market today has changed from a sellers' market to a buyers'
market where the customer, i.e. the patient is all important. Patients flock to a
hospital because of its good name and image not just because its services are
cheap.

Typically in mission hospitals, it is perceived that care is optimum and patients are
more satisfied than in Public Hospitals. It is also perceived that mission hospitals
are autonomous and therefore have no direct supervision over their operations and
that the funding they receive from their foreign partners enables them to ensure
optimum care, hence, little or no challenges to ensuring customer care and
satisfaction.

Specifically, this research will attempt to answer the following questions:

• What is care and satisfaction for the customers of the hospital?
• What factors account for dissatisfaction by customers to the hospital?
• What are the customer care and satisfaction challenges faced by providers of
healthcare?
• Has any action been undertaken to mitigate them?
• What are the impacts of these challenges on the hospitals quality of service
and image?
• What approach could be relevant in addressing these challenges?

By answering the above questions, the study will hope to bring available
theory and practice together and add to the growing literature in this field
Plan of Work
January – February, 2011 - detailed literature review finalized
March- April, 2011 - development , administration of questionnaire
and collection of data
May-June, 2011 -data evaluated and preparation of draft thesis
July, 2011 - final draft agreed with supervisor
CHAPTER TWO
OUTLINE OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

This research will review several theories by Anderson(1990) on Customer care,

analyze researches by Lynn Muray and Donald Baack of Pittsburg State
University on Service Failure, Service Recovery and the Healthcare Industry. It
will also review studies done by Aditi Naidu's on Factors affecting Patient
Satisfaction and Health Care Quality and Surjit S. Wadhwa’s commentary with an
Australian bias on Customer Satisfaction and Health Care Delivery System. Other
literature will be researched into and used as a good source of relevant information.
CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY
Both desk research and field research will be carried out. Desk research will focus
on examining the literature. Field research will use questionnaire and structured
inter views to collect data from customers who have benefited from the services of
the hospital and healthcare providers, thus,
1. Customers - Patients and Relatives
2. Providers of the Service - Doctors, Nurses,administrator, etc.

Technique employed
Customers: Simple random sampling of fifty (50) attendants at the hospital OPD
and inpatients
Providers
Purposive sampling of thirty (30) healthcare providers and managers
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
Data Analysis will be done with the aid of a computer software SPSS

CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusion

References

• Abdalla S. & Prinz V., 2009, Healthcare in Ghana accessed via

www.ecoionet ON 17/01/2011/
• Aditi. N. Factors Afecting Patient Satisfaction and Healthcare Quality
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 22 Number
4, 2009.
• Baack D and Murray. L. Pittsburg State University. Service Failure, Service
Recovery and the Health Care Industry: A Model and Research Proposal.
Accessed via net on 17/1/2011.
• Nair K.G. 2004. Customer Satisfaction in Hospitals, accessed via net on
17/01/11/
• Surjit S. Wadhwa University of New South Wales, Customer Satisfaction
and Health Care Delivery Systems : Commentary with Australian Bias. The
Internet Journal of Health 2002 Volume 3 Number 1