How satisfied are Portuguese citizens with public hospitals' service?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test emergency department patients' service quality perceptions by measuring their satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – Mixed method research involved collecting, analysing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data in a single study, thereby providing a bridge between qualitative and quantitative paradigms. The goal was to merge knowledge by using qualitative conclusions to understand quantitative conclusions.Findings – Segment 1 (62 per cent of the patients) represents the unsatisfied group and a segment 2 (39 per cent of the patients) represents the satisfied cohort. Dissatisfied patients classified almost all items as very bad, bad or satisfactory; satisfied patients classified almost all items as very good or good. This study identifies all items that contribute to low patient‐satisfaction.Practical implications – The paper's findings are important because administrators and policy makers know that patients constitute two different s...