Quality of Health Services and Patients' Satisfaction in Accredited and Non Accredited Hospitals
The majority of hospitals follow voluntary or mandatory accreditation standards; these standards are widely believed to improve the quality of hospital services (QHS) and thereby increase patient satisfaction (PS) The current descriptive comparative study explored patients' opinions and beliefs with regard to QHS and PS at accredited and non accredited Jordanian public hospitals in 2016. Data of discharged patients were collected using a structured questionnaire; 250 patients from four hospitals participated (response rate: 83% SPSS v.15 was used calculate mean values, standard deviations, and Pearson's correlation coefficient, and to conduct t tests. Patients indicated medium levels of QHS and PS in both accredited and non accredited hospitals; additionally, QHS and PS were significantly correlated (p 0.05) in both types of hospitals. These results suggest that QHS and PS require improvement in all Jordanian public hospitals; future research should identify causal relationships between implementing accreditation standards and patient satisfaction.