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- The influence of patient's demographic characteristics on service quality in the outpatient department at Komfo Anokye teaching Hospital, GhanaPublication . Kwarteng, Ernest; Ribeiro, Luís PedroPatients’ demographic characteristics as a paradigm for assessing service quality in hospitals have attracted considerable admiration in recent times. This report envisages the summary of the study that was drawn in the arena of patient influences on service quality delivery in a teaching hospital in Ghana. The present study indicates the influence of patients’ demographic characteristics on service quality in the outpatient department at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. The study was cross-sectional with a sample of 120 outpatients, selected randomly at the department. Data collection was made through questionnaires that consisted of 60 items. The questionnaires were subdivided into thematic headings as, Patients’ Demographics, Levels of Service Quality, and Patients’ Health Status. The only inclusion criteria for choosing the patients to answer the questionnaires were those who were willing to participate in the study. It was not compulsory to participate but the patients’ desire and ability to participate based on their own free will. Patients aged 18 years and above who desired to participate were included in the procedure irrespective of their gender, race, or ethnic group. However, those that were unwilling to participate and those with severe illness, such as mentally retarded, stroke, and physical dysfunctions were excluded from participation. Structured in-depth pretested interviews were conducted with the questionnaires. There were no right or wrong answers to the answers patients gave. All answers were considered correct. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20 software, regression, and correlation, were carried out, and descriptive statistics results were in standard deviation, percentages, pie charts, tables, and figures. The SERVQUAL instrument was used for the testing of service quality at the department. The findings of this research showed that, out of the total number of 120 outpatients, 58.3% were males and 41.7% were females with a mean age of 43 years and a standard deviation, of 16.7. There were 37.5% of patients from the rural areas and 62.5% from the urban areas. There were income disparities where most of the patients received low-income levels. The correlation coefficient between income and educational status was calculated as -0.74. These variables tend to move in the opposite direction. It was observed that many of the respondents had no formal education and that matter, had a lower income level. Educational levels have a direct impact on income. Patients with good health status were 8.3%, poor health status 66.7%, fair status 13.3%, and those with excellent health status were 11.7%. A regression analysis was conducted on the patients’ health status and the results revealed a sum of squares 12.99 residual value of 83.04 showing the difference between the observed and predicted values. F statistic value of 1.69, and a significant value of 0.09 indicating a weak correlation among the variables. Service quality dimensions gap analysis showed that there were gaps among Tangibility with a gap score of 5.0% Strongly Agree, 8.3% reliability in gap score, 6.5% gap for responsiveness strongly agreed,0.9% no gap for Assurance, and a 5.0%% gap for empathy in Agree option. Gender in the determination of respondents’ perceived service quality indicated that more males influenced the decision in almost all dimensions except in the Tangibility dimension which had an equal number of males to females. There was a significant impact of respondents’ gender on perceived service quality, and male respondents dominated it. Descriptive statistics of service quality construct with its overall service quality of patient’s expectations was analyzed and results revealed that, in the Assurance dimension, courtesy and friendship to patients were ranked the least with a standard deviation of 1.13. In contrast, nurses’ skills and expertise were highest with a standard deviation of 1.35. The efficiency of patients’ requests and attendance in responsiveness was ranked first with a standard deviation of 1.37 whilst patients’ feedback was the lowest with a standard deviation of 1.32. Regarding the tangible aspect of the hospital, the hospital has good facility status with modern equipment where the bathrooms and toilet facilities are clean, respondents ranked the environment the least as being not healthy. It can be attributed to the fact that the environment is exposed to a greater number of people. The order of importance of service quality dimensions by respondents were, Tangibles (2.77±1.40), Reliability (2.76±1.32), Assurance (2.68±1.65), Responsiveness (2.63±1.32), and Empathy (2.59±1.27).