Abstract
BackgroundMedical endoscope is widely used in clinical practice for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment, occupying around 5% of the medical device market. Evaluating the true service level of medical endoscope is essential and necessary to improve overall performance of medical diagnosis and treatment, and to maintain competitiveness of endoscope manufacturers, however, such a tool is not available in the market. This study develops an Evaluation Index System (EIS) to assess service level of medical endoscope, and to provide suggestions for improving the service level through the Delphi method.MethodsFirstly, the possible factors influencing the service level were identified from literature review. In parallel, the Delphi expert method questionnaire was designed and 25 experts were invited to conduct three rounds of questionnaire, to evaluate and rate the possible factors. Finally, we determined the weights associated with the factors, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and percentage method, and developed the service level EIS.ResultsThe EIS consists of 3 first-level indicators, 24 s-level indicators and 68 third-level indicators. According to the weights computed using AHP, first-level indicators are ranked as post-sale (0.62), in-sale (0.25) and pre-sale (0.13). Through case verification, the medical endoscope brand Olympus had a total score of 4.17, Shanghai Aohua had a total score of 3.71, and Shanghai Chengyun had a total score of 3.28, which matches its market popularity and ranking in terms of market share. The results obtained from the EIS are consistent with the reality.ConclusionsThe EIS established in this study is comprehensive, reliable and reasonable with strong practicality. The EIS can act as a tool for the endoscope users to evaluate potential products and make informed choices. It also provides a measurable basis for endoscope manufacturers and service providers to improve service quality.
Highlights
Medical endoscope is widely used in clinical practice for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment, occupying around 5% of the medical device market
The quality of medical endoscope service is an essential factor in market competition and an important link related to medical safety and patient safety
A few medical endoscope brands were selected for test and verify the developed Evaluation Index System (EIS), and the results show that the system is applicable and useful, as evidenced that the final index scores obtained from the EIS system match the actual situation
Summary
Medical endoscope is widely used in clinical practice for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment, occupying around 5% of the medical device market. With the extra investment in medical technology research and development, medical endoscopes produced by domestic manufacturers in China are quickly catching up in terms of product variety, quality, performances and innovation Medical devices such as endoscopes are not a one-off purchase, instead, the associated post-sale service provided by the manufacturers or qualified dealers plays an important role in influencing decision making by the clients. Most of the studies to date only evaluated the post sales service of medical endoscope suppliers, for example, 6 indicators were agreed to assess post sale service of medical devices used in China [11], and 16 indicators were identified by Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital using Delphi method to assess post sale service [12] These evaluation systems did not consider pre-sale or during sale service, nor did the systems make comparison between different brands, which are all important factors influencing decision making when end users choose endoscopes
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