• Giri. P.V
• 2Nitin Madhav Kamat. T

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune systemic, inflammatory, symmetrical polyarthritis. RA is a major cause of disability in India affecting about 7 million people with a prevalence of 0 .75%. RA is well managed in the IPD of Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College Hospital, Ollur, Thrissur, Kerala. Quality of service in hospitals should be directed to patient satisfaction, this is to maintain patient loyalty. The objective of this study is to identify the gaps between customer expectations of a service and their perceptions of service in Rheumatoid Arthritis care at Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College Hospital. A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted using SERVQUAL as the survey instrument. The comparison of perceived expectation (E) of a service with perceived performance (P), giving rise to Service Quality (SQ=P-E). The duration of the study was 90 days including report writing. Gap analysis was done using independent paired t test. There is no service quality gaps in all the five dimensions i.e. Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy. From the results it can be assessed that Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College Hospital, Ollur, Thrissur, Kerala is rendering an overall god quality of service in RA care.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), quality of service, SERVQUAL, expectation, perception, patient centered care

"QUALITY OF CARE IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AT VAIDYARATNAM AYURVEDA COLLEGE HOSPITAL, OLLUR, THRISSUR, KERALA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.272-276, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907M33.pdf

"QUALITY OF CARE IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AT VAIDYARATNAM AYURVEDA COLLEGE HOSPITAL, OLLUR, THRISSUR, KERALA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp272-276, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907M33.pdf