RESUMO
PURPOSE: To identify the expectations and perceptions of clients concerning the quality of hospital care provided to them and their respective companions at a private Brazilian hospital using SERVQUAL. The SERVQUAL questionnaire can provide information concerning expectations and perceptions of clients. In addition, it is able to identify the participation of frontline employees and how they contribute to the organization's end product (service delivery). METHODS: In total, 172 inpatients for surgical reasons answered the SERVQUAL questionnaire. It consists of 23 pairs of statements, 22 of which are distributed into the dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Statement 23 refers to the overall quality of care. Exploratory analysis, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and the kappa Coefficient were calculated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and SAS 9.2. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the Hospital das Clínicas at the University of São Paulo at Ribeirao Preto Medical School. RESULTS: Most participants had a bachelor's degree and were over than 60years old. Cronbach's alpha coefficients indicated good internal consistency (α=0.93) and high levels of agreement were observed (91.10%). CONCLUSION: The SERVQUAL questionnaire was sensitive to items in each dimension for which clients' perceptions surpassed their expectations. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The continuous quality assessment of health services is mandatory for nursing leadership. The nursing leadership can further explore the SERVQUAL with a view to better attending to the clients' expectations.