MEASURING FUNCTIONAL SERVICE QUALITY AT JOSEPH N. FRANCE GENERAL HOSPITAL ST. KITTS AND NEVIS

Abstract

“The Influence of Functional Service Quality on Patient Satisfaction: A Case Study at Joseph N. France Hospital St. Kitts and Nevis” Author: Kishma Tamica Cranstoun Thesis advised by: Professor Nai-Wen Kuo, PhD, MPH BACKGROUND: Throughout the health care industry issues of patient satisfaction with the quality of service received has gained much attention by management and researchers likewise. The study set in the largest referral Hospital in St Kitts and Nevis, seeks to measure the level of functional service quality utilizing the SERVQUAL, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) model to explore the gaps between expectation and perception among patients. The study also measures the association of the dimensions with overall patient satisfaction. The research hypothesis is based on the five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and their ability to in influence the level of patient satisfaction. It was expected that patient satisfaction would be influenced by the five dimensions as well as other demographic factors. METHODS: This study was conducted with use of questionnaire. A total of 253 respondents drawn from a systematic random sample of patients utilizing hospital services who were asked to complete a SERVQUAL questionnaires. The data was analyzed to measure existing gaps utilizing the students’t-test paired differences, the Pearson correlation, and linear regression analysis was used to measure the association between the dimensions and overall satisfaction. . RESULTS: The response rate was 90%. Internal reliability Cronbach's alpha was > 0.929 for the 30 item questionnaire. Throughout analyses differences were observed, as expectations exceeded perceptions. Overall, patients’ mean perception score was 3.27 (SD=0.45) and mean expectation scores were 4.53 (SD=0.26) and the existing gap -1.25 (-1.35,-1.15) was significant (0.000), with t=-25.117. Among employees sub grouping, the existing gap -1.367 (-1.547,-1.187) was significant (0.000), with t=-15.262. While among the patients’ sub group the existing gap, -1.32 (-1.45,-1.21) was also significant (0.000) with t=21.230. The five dimensions had a positive correlation with overall satisfaction. While utilizing a stepwise model of regression of the 5 dimensions and demographic variables to overall satisfaction only two predictors, assurance (0.000) and responsiveness (0.019) explained 25.6% of the variation in overall satisfaction at a 0.05 significance level. CONCLUSION: The results of this research appear to show that the SERVQUAL instrument is a useful measurement tool in assessing and monitoring functional service quality in hospitals, and enabling management to identify where quality improvements initiatives are needed, from the patients' perspective. As such we can conclude, that should improvement in the overall level of satisfaction be the objective of management, quality improvement initiatives should be undertaken across all dimension however putting greater emphasis on the assurance and responsiveness dimensions.