Eliciting preferences of patients about the quality of hospital services in the west of Iran using discrete choice experiment analysis

Ali Kazemi-Karyani,Moslem Soofi,Maryam Khoramrooz,Zhila Seyedi Miankali,Shahin Soltani,Vajiheh Ramezani-Doroh,Farid Khosravi,Behzad Karami Matin

doi:10.1186/s12962-021-00319-y

Abstract

ObjectivesKnowing about accurate customer expectations is the most important step in defining and delivering high-quality services. This study aimed to evaluate the preferences of patients referring to two hospitals in Kermanshah, Iran.MethodDiscrete choice experiment (DCE) method used to elicit preferences of 328 patients who were admitted in two hospitals of Kermanshah city in the west of Iran. Literature review and experts opinion were used to identify a candidate list of attributes related to the quality of cares in hospitals. The final study attributes were quality of physician care, quality of nursing care, waiting time for admission, cleaning of wards and toilets, and behavior of staff. Experimental design applied to extract choice sets of hospitals. The data was analyzed by a conditional logit regression.ResultsThe regression results showed the most important predictors of hospital selection by respondents was the good quality of physician care (aOR: 3.18, 95% CI 2.61, 3.87), followed by friendly behavior of staffs (aOR: 2.03, 95% CI 1.81, 2.27), cleanness of wards and toilet (aOR: 1.61, 95% CI 1.40, 1.85), and finally quality of nursing cares (aOR: 1.13, 95% CI 0.89, 1.44). However, increasing waiting time made disutility in the study participants (aOR: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60, 0.80).ConclusionsOur study finding emphasized some potential opportunity of quality augmentation in hospital sector by paying attention to different quality attributes including quality of physician, friendly behavior of staffs, cleanness of hospital environment and finally quality of nursing cares. Considering patients preferences in decision making process could lead to substantial satisfaction improvement.

Highlights

Nowadays, quality is one of the important issuesfor managers of organizations, and this issue is especially considered inproviding services
The regression results showed the most important predictors of hospital selection by respondents was the good quality of physician care, followed by friendly behavior of staffs, cleanness of wards and toilet, and quality of nursing cares
Our study finding emphasized some potential opportunity of quality augmentation in hospital sector by paying attention to different quality attributes including quality of physician, friendly behavior of staffs, cleanness of hospital environment and quality of nursing cares

Summary

Introduction

Quality is one of the important issuesfor managers of organizations, and this issue is especially considered inproviding services. Organizations must strive to meet the demands of their customers. This will only be possible by moving towards customer orientation services. Successful organizations are organizations that produce their products and services in a way that is in line with the wishes and preferences of costumers and have the necessary planning in place. It is important to consider quality standards in service delivery. The quality of goods and services has an impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty [3]. Modern management approaches have defined quality as customer’s wishes and preferences [4]

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