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@article{196083,
        author = {Dr. Anand Shankar Raja M and Ms. Manyatha KL},
        title = {Systematic Literature Review on the usage of Mystery Shopping in Healthcare Industry},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {11},
        pages = {1724-1735},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=196083},
        abstract = {Particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry has encountered previously unheard difficulties, which has led to a review of service delivery and quality evaluation techniques in the healthcare sector as well. The creative use of mystery shopping, a method that has historically been employed in retail, to improve healthcare services is examined in this study. Mystery shopping exposes systematic disparities in healthcare access and quality, regulatory non-compliance, and hidden inefficiencies by mimicking patient experiences. This study highlights its function in assessing access to telemedicine, pointing out inequalities impacted by geography and socioeconomic position. This article focuses on “Systematic Literature Review (SLR) where research articles are collected from the year 2001 to 2024. Further, the collected articles based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria are exposed to content coding employing a thematic analysis approach. As an outcome of this methodology the article synthesizes information from 30 important studies covering a range of topics, such as pharmaceutical governance, health equality, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It also looks at new developments and methodological advancements that modify mystery shopping to meet the demands of modern healthcare. Ultimately, this research aims to provide a comprehensive framework for integrating mystery shopping into healthcare systems, driving improvements in service quality and equity while offering actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners to foster patient-centered care and inform future research directions.},
        keywords = {Mystery Shopping, Healthcare industry, Systematic Literature Review, Service Quality & Governance, Equity, Health environment},
        month = {April},
        }