Service Quality In Private Hospitals Research Articles

Understanding Medical Tourists’ Perception of Private Hospital Service Quality in Penang Island

<p class="1Body">Medical tourism is one of the most successful types of tourism in Penang Island. Traveling beyond borders to obtain medical treatments is referred to as medical tourism. The purpose of this paper is to identify medical tourists’ perception of service quality based on the three elements of core product, physical environment, and interaction. Qualitative analysis is used; and twelve respondents are interviewed from a selected private hospital in Penang Island. The study found that there is an overall positive perception of medical tourism in Penang Island and X hospital with a 100% of the respondents willing to make the same choice of destination and hospital in the future for the purpose of medical tourism. Factors such as communication, staff, hospital facilities, and service influenced the positive perception. The results show that there are a few negative factors affecting medical tourists’ perception such as: lack of following established procedures among hospital staff, hospital building problems, and lack of information for international patients.</p>

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Evaluation of the hospital service in Turkey using fuzzy decision making approach

This study proposes a framework based on the concept of fuzzy sets theory and the VIKOR method to provide a rational, scientific and systematic process for evaluating the hospital service quality under a fuzzy environment where the uncertainty, subjectivity and vagueness are addressed with linguistic variables parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. This study applies the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach to determine the importance weights of evaluation criteria and the VIKOR method is taken to consolidate the service quality performance ratings of the feasible alternatives. An empirical case involving 33 evaluation criteria, two public and three private medical centers in Turkey assessed by 18 evaluators from various fields of medical industry is solicited to demonstrate the proposed approach. The analysis result reveals that the service quality of private hospitals is better than public hospitals because the private hospitals are rarely subsidized by governmental agencies. These private hospitals have to fend themselves to retain existing patients or attract new patients to ensue sustainable survival.

Service Quality and Re-visit Intention

The outcomes of service quality such as customer satisfaction and subsequent re-visit intention are two of the most important indicators of organizational performance in the present competitive health care market. This article provides a holistic overview of customer experience of service quality in private hospitals as well as the implications of the same on the behavioural outcomes (e.g., customer satisfaction and re-visit intention) of customers. In this study, we identify the relative importance of critical service quality dimensions from customers’ perspective and examine the relationship between service quality and re-visit intention. A gap analysis was carried out to compare the service quality of a charitable hospital with that of a corporate hospital. A standard questionnaire covering 26 service quality variables was administered to a sample of 120 respondents in two hospitals in Mumbai. Findings suggest that the major factors that influence service quality are related to direct patient care such as hospital facilities, availability of doctors and the behaviour of staff. We suggest that service providers need to understand the critical role of human interaction in health care. Moreover, it is vital to consider all the stakeholders (including attendants and visitors) in service design and delivery as they act as participants in the service delivery process.

Fuzzy VIKOR method: A case study of the hospital service evaluation in Taiwan

This study proposes a framework based on the concept of fuzzy sets theory and the VIKOR method to provide a rational, scientific and systematic process for evaluating the hospital service quality under a fuzzy environment where the uncertainty, subjectivity and vagueness are addressed with linguistic variables parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. This study applies the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach to determine the importance weights of evaluation criteria and the VIKOR method is taken to consolidate the service quality performance ratings of the feasible alternatives. An empirical case involving 33 evaluation criteria, 2 public and 3 private medical centres in Taiwan assessed by 18 evaluators from various fields of medical industry is solicited to demonstrate the proposed approach. The analysis result reveals that the service quality of private hospitals is better than public hospitals because the private hospitals are rarely subsidized by governmental agencies. These private hospitals have to fend themselves to retain existing patients or attract new patients to ensue sustainable survival.

Patients' satisfaction of service quality in Saudi hospitals: a SERVQUAL analysis

Saudi Arabian hospital performance, vis-á-vis patient satisfaction with service provision, has emerged as a key policy and planning concern. Keeping in view public and private hospital service quality, this article seeks to provide guidelines to the on-going Saudi Arabian health service reorganization, which emphasizes decentralization, bed-capacity expansion, research-based policymaking and initiatives in the health insurance sector. The article outlines an empirical study that compares patient satisfaction with service quality in Saudi Arabian public and private sector hospitals. The authors employ a stratified random sample (1,000 inpatients) from five Saudi Arabian public and five private hospitals. Data were collected through questionnaire using the SERVQUAL scale. For reducing the language bias the questionnaire was translated into Arabic. The response rate was 74.9 percent. Data were analyzed using SPSS and appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Cronbach's alpha for five service-quality dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, safety and empathy) were high and the SERVQUAL instrument proved to be reliable, valid and appropriate. The results showed that sex, education, income and occupation were statistically significant in influencing inpatients' satisfaction, and all the null hypotheses were rejected. Only inpatient age was not significant. The study highlights service quality influence in the design of broader healthcare strategies for Saudi Arabian public and private hospitals. It demands that management researchers and analysts must identify regional service quality consistencies and related inpatient demographic indicators. The study offers some insights into, and guidance for, hospital quality assurance in Saudi Arabia in general and the urban hospital setting in the Middle-East in particular.

Service quality of private hospitals: The Iranian Patients' perspective

BackgroundHighly competitive market in the private hospital industry has caused increasing pressure on them to provide services with higher quality. The aim of this study was to determine the different dimensions of the service quality in the private hospitals of Iran and evaluating the service quality from the patients' perspective.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November 2010 in Tehran, Iran. The study sample was composed of 983 patients randomly selected from 8 private general hospitals. The study questionnaire was the SERVQUAL questionnaire, consisting of 21 items in service quality dimensions.ResultsThe result of factor analysis revealed 3 factors, explaining 69% of the total variance. The total mean score of patients' expectation and perception was 4.91(SD = 0.2) and 4.02(SD = 0.6), respectively. The highest expectation and perception related to the tangibles dimension and the lowest expectation and perception related to the empathy dimension. The differences between perception and expectation were significant (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the expectations scores based on gender, education level, and previous hospitalization in that same hospital. Also, there was a significant difference between the perception scores based on insurance coverage, average length of stay, and patients' health conditions on discharge.ConclusionThe results showed that SERVQUAL is a valid, reliable, and flexible instrument to monitor and measure the quality of the services in private hospitals of Iran. Our findings clarified the importance of creating a strong relationship between patients and the hospital practitioners/personnel and the need for hospital staff to be responsive, credible, and empathetic when dealing with patients.

Comparing public and private hospital care service quality in Turkey

The aim of this article is to examine the differences in service quality between public and private hospitals in Turkey. This study applies the principles behind the SERVQUAL model and compares Turkey's public and private hospital care service quality. The study sample contains a total of 200 outpatients. Through the identification of 40 service quality indicators and the use of a Likert-type scale, two questionnaires containing 80-items was developed. The former measured patients' expectations prior to admission to public and private hospital service quality. The latter measured patient perceptions of provided service quality. The results indicate that inpatients in the private hospitals were more satisfied with service quality than those in the public hospitals. The results also suggest that inpatients in the private hospitals were more satisfied with doctors, nurses and supportive services than their counterparts in the public hospitals. Finally, the results show that satisfaction with doctors and reasonable costs is the biggest determinants of service quality in the public hospitals. Consequently, SERVQUAL, as a standard instrument for measuring functional service quality, is reliable and valid in a hospital environment.