Bounded rationality in healthcare: unraveling the psychological factors behind patient satisfaction in China.

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a crucial metric to gauge the quality of medical services, but the psychological factors influencing patient satisfaction remain insufficiently explored.

Methods: This study examines these psychological factors by applying the theory of bounded rationality to 1,442 inpatients in Hangzhou, China, whose data were collected using a questionnaire. One-way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression were used to analyze patient satisfaction and its associated factors.