An investigation into factors influencing choice of medical care provider in Harare, Zimbabwe: The case of Harare Metropolitan

Abstract

The study investigated the factors influencing patient choice of medical care provider in Harare, with a particular focus on patient choices of hospitals. This was motivated by the fact that seekers of health care services are increasingly having wider choice of healthcare providers to choose from while at the same time there is intense competition for patients or consumers of health care services on the part of medical care providers. The study was aimed at establishing the factors influencing choice of medical care provider as well as ascertaining the relative importance of these factors. A non-experimental research design in the form of a descriptive study was done. The study used a sample of 172 respondents who were drawn from private and public health care providers in Harare. A 5 point likert scale was used to gather data. The collected data was analysed quantitatively with SPSS version 23. The findings revealed that factors affecting patient choice of a medical care provider are both socio-demographic and non-demographic. The socio-demographic factors that have a catalytic effect on the decision making process in choosing a medical care provider were age, marital status, occupational status, having medical insurance and income. Gender and education level did not significantly influence choice of medical care provider. The non-demographic factors that significantly influenced choice of medical care provider were medical services, environmental, reputational, administrative and accessibility factors. The core medical service offering complemented by the administrative, accessibility, environmental factors of the medical care provider or hospital enhances the reputational factors. The reputational factors act as both an input and output into making the medical care provider or hospital the preferred choice for the patient who is the medical services consumer). Based on the research findings it is imperative for hospital administrators to craft strategies that make hospitals the preferred choice by enhancing their offerings in terms of their medical service offerings that is the quality of service offered, the diagnostic ability and capability as well as high level of capacity of their doctors and nurses. The study recommended that it is important to invest in making hospital experiences pleasant for patients to build reputation and image of the hospitals. Future research should consider investigating the differences in patients‟ preferences between seekers of private and