International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing

Purpose – Recent concern about governmental hospital performance has intensified interest in the working conditions of doctors. In North Cyprus, there are several problems related with the functioning and performance of hospitals, such as lack of patient satisfaction, long waiting times for treatment, and dissatisfaction from doctors. In analyzing the reasons for such problems and proposing solutions, components of the hospital system, namely, the doctors and the patients and other health personnel, are considered to be important. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the satisfaction and importance levels of doctors from their working conditions and environment which are key determinants of patient satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire consisting of two main sections was constructed. The first section included personal information and the second section consisted of perceptional questions about importance and satisfaction levels related to the working conditions of doctors. The sample population of this paper was composed of governmental and private hospital doctors working in North Cyprus.

Findings – All the aspects of working conditions of the governmental and private hospital doctors are found to be crucial for them. In general, majority of the governmental hospital doctors are unsatisfied with the aspects of working conditions; whereas, the satisfaction levels of private hospital are higher than that of governmental hospital doctors.

Originality/value – This paper is planned to be a valuable scientific contribution to the actions of the Ministry of Health in North Cyprus for the improvement of the working conditions of doctors which would in turn lead to greater patient satisfaction.