title: The Effect of Hospital Service Quality on Patient's Trust.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The trust is meant the belief of the patient to the practitioner or the hospital based on the concept that the care provider seeks the best for the patient and will provide the suitable care and treatment for him/her. One of the main determinants of patient's trust is the service quality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to examine the effect of quality of services provided in private hospitals on the patient's trust.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 969 patients were selected using the consecutive method from eight private general hospitals of Tehran, Iran, in 2010. Data were collected through a questionnaire containing 20 items (14 items for quality, 6 items for trust) and its validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of patients' perception of trust was 3.80 and 4.01 for service quality. Approximately 38% of the variance in patient trust was explained by service quality dimensions. Quality of interaction and process (P < 0.001) were the strongest factors in predicting patient's trust, but the quality of the environment had no significant effect on the patients' degree of trust.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interaction quality and process quality were the key determinants of patient's trust in the private hospitals of Tehran. To enhance the patients' trust, quality improvement efforts should focus on service delivery aspects such as scheduling, timely and accurate doing of the service, and strengthening the interpersonal aspects of care and communication skills of doctors, nurses and staff.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zarei
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daneshkohan
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Roghayeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khabiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Economics, Tehran University of Medical sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arab
keywords: Health Care Quality; Hospital-Patient Relation; Patient Trust