Factors Affecting the Selection of a Hospital: A Case Study in Milad Hospital, Iran

Introduction: One of the most important factors affecting the future survival of organizations is identifying and meeting the increasing needs and demands of patients in order to provide high quality health care services. The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting the selection of Milad Hospital, Iran, by patients based on combined marketing factors. Methods: The present analytical and cross-sectional study was performed in the inpatient wards of Milad Hospital in 2013. Data collection was conducted using the Yaghoubi and et al. Questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by specialists and its reliability was approved using Cronbach’s alpha (r = 0.85). The statistical population consisted of patients referring to inpatient wards of Milad Hospital. Using the formula for determining sample volume, a sample sized of 421 patients was determined. Sampling was performed using stratified random method. Data were analyzed using one-sample Kolmogorov Smirnov, independent-samples t-test, and ANOVA in SPSS software. Results: Among the seven dimensions of marketing, the service and process dimensions with mean scores of 18.58 and 6.27, respectively, were the most and the least important reasons for selecting a hospital. Moreover, specialization, appropriate quality of services, type of insurance coverage, skilled physicians, reputation of the hospital, recommendations of relatives and physicians, and sophisticated equipment played a leading role in hospital selection. Conclusion: Patients make different choices in different situations, but multiple competitive advantages can result in an increase in frequency of patient referral to a medical center.