Patients' experience of service quality in government and private hospitals in the Qassim Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Patients' experience of the quality of healthcare services has gained momentum during the last few decades. This study aimed to assess and compare the experience of patients on the service quality in government and private hospitals in the Qassim region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using a Service Quality (SERVQUAL) questionnaire translated into the Arabic language to collect the responses from 381 patients who were hospitalized at government and private hospitals in the Qassim region from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023. The patients' overall satisfaction with the service quality showed that there were significant differences among government and private hospitals. Although the study revealed positive experiences for patients on all dimensions of service quality in both types of hospitals, private hospitals scored a higher value than government hospitals in all the dimensions of service quality. Patients' feedback on service quality can assist hospital management in identifying key quality issues encountered by the patients during their treatment and rectifying those problems to improve overall healthcare quality and thus patients' satisfaction.