Quality service in radiology

Abstract

Radiology is part of the service industry and as a service provider one needs to understand quality and delivery of service. This includes knowledge of customer service, customer satisfaction and all its related issues as well as quality assurance and improvement issues. Service quality and delivery in radiology are closely related but not the same. Nevertheless, both are required for customer satisfaction. Academic and institutional radiology departments are now often considered as revenue centres in their hospitals. A cost centre is a unit or department in an organisation for which a manager is assigned responsibility for managing costs. Revenue generation is not the main concern of the department but cost control is of utmost importance. They are also often called support centres. With a revenue or profit centre, maximum revenues are generated and minimum expenses are incurred. The manager’s role is to maximise profit while minimising losses. Salary packages of academics also often include a clinical component. Senior radiologists need to have an understanding of the financial aspects as well as service aspects of a radiology department. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND SERVICE DELIVERY