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OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of physiotherapy services and patients' satisfaction based on Service Quality (SERVQUAL) at teaching hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan. METHODS: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2018 to January 2019, on outpatients in teaching hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Patients aging from 19-60 years attending the outpatients of physical therapy departments of University of Lahore Teaching Hospital, WAPDA Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Pakistan Society of Rehabilitation of the Disabled were included in study. Patients refused to participate and those having compromised cognitive abilities were excluded from study. After taking informed consent, patients were asked to fill in the standardized SERVQUAL questionnaire before and after their physiotherapy session. Statistical analysis was carried out by using SPSS version 21. RESULTS: Out of 71 patients 36 (50.7%) were males and 35 (49.3%) were females. Among 71 patients; 43 (60.6%) patients were satisfied and 28 (39.4%) were dissatisfied, based on their expectations prior to receiving physiotherapy services The satisfaction level of patients, based on their experience of current physiotherapy session showed that 65/71 (91.5%) patients were satisfied by the physiotherapy services provided to them whereas 6 (8.4%) were dissatisfied (p<0.001). The results showed that there was an inverse relation between patients' expectations and perceptions regarding Tangibles (r=-0.248); Reliability (r=-0.448); Responsiveness (r=-0.298); Assurance (r=-0.305) and Empathy (r=-0.356). CONCLUSION: There was an inverse relationship between perceptions and expectations. Patients were found to be more satisfied after experiencing physiotherapy services rather than before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the past few years, a significant overuse of radiological investigations influenced the quality and cost of healthcare of the country as it may lead to non-compliance of the patient due to non-affordability and also may harm the patient in terms of radiation hazards. Pakistan, being a low-income, resource-constraint country, is facing financial impact on families as well as health system due to multiple reasons.Objectives: The purpose of study is to identify reasons of unnecessary use of radiological diagnostic modalities in Pakistani hospitals as perceived by radiologists.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of all 105 radiologists, having at least 1 year experience of working in radiology, working in five tertiary care hospitals in Lahore. A self-constructed, self-administered, pretested 5-point Likert scale opinion-based questionnaire was administered after taking informed consent. It includes questions about excessive radiological use that may be attributed to the physicians, investigations, patients and other non-categorized causes. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23.Results: Since the assessment forms were handed over and collected from the radiologists in person, the response rate was 100%. Of a total of 105 respondents, 78 (74.28%) respondentsagreed that there is an actual increase, 25 (23.80%) respondents disagreed and 2 (1.90%) respondents were unsure. Most important reasons for increased usage of radiological investigations are 'need of accuracy of diagnosis' (P = 0.009), 'trend of physicians to repeat tests in order to confirm preset diagnoses' (P-value = 0.03), 'lack of knowledge about proper usage of radiological advances' (P-value = 0.005) and 'lack of proper clinical examination' (P-value = 0.04).Conclusion: Unnecessary use of radiological investigations is actually there as perceived by radiologists, which is attributed to inadequate knowledge, attitude and training of physicians to refer patients to radiological resources. This research can be a stepping stone for future researchers as it can be used for elaborating these causes individually and finding ways as to how each of these causes can be controlled and minimized to bring about a decline in excessive usage of these modalities for the betterment of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]