Development of HospitalQual: A Service Quality Scale for Measuring In-patient Services in Hospital

Abstract

Service quality has become a major concern for both the hospitals and the patients. The increase in competition coupled with the increased patients' perception of service quality makes it difficult for hospitals to provide services that meet patient satisfaction. Recognition of the importance of service quality is the need of the hour in order to provide better services to the patients. The objectives of the present study are to identify the critical factors of inpatient service quality in a hospital and to develop the HospitalQual theoretical model to measure inpatient service quality. The present study was explorative and descriptive in its nature. An empirical study was conducted in a public hospital located in Hyderabad, India. The data was collected through a self administered questionnaire from 246 in-patients with a purposive sampling technique. The statistical techniques such as factor analysis and the multiple regression were used in the data analysis. The study has identified the factors to measure the inpatient service quality and developed a comprehensive instrument i.e. "HospitalQual" with seven dimensions, namely; medical, nursing, support, administrative services, patient safety, communication and hospital infrastructure. In addition, the supportive services are found to be the most important factor to predict the overall inpatient service quality, followed by nursing services, administrative services, medical services, patient communication patient safety and hospital infrastructure. The application of HospitalQual would help to identify the gaps in each of the dimensions over a period of time and enable hospital administrators to monitor, control and improve the inpatient service quality in a hospital.

Measuring the quality of health services provided at a Greek Public Hospital through patient satisfaction. Case Study: The General Hospital of Kavala

“…After a thorough study of the existing literature, it was considered that the dimensions that adequately describe the overall quality of hospital care are those supported by Padma et al (2009Padma et al ( , 2010, which are broken down as follows: a. Infrastructure: This includes the degree of cleanliness and comfort of the room, the degree of hospital overall safety, the level of availability of the required drugs at the right time, the level of availability of doctors and nurses, the level of availability of medical equipment and good working condition (Thompson 1983, Parasuraman et al, 1988, Reidenbach and Sandifer-Smallwood 1990, Tomes and Ng 1995, Camilleri and O'Callaghan 1998, Andaleeb 1998, Chowdhary and Prakash 2007, Walters and Jones 2001, Arasli et al, 2008, Zineldin 2006, Duggirala et al, 2008, Padma et al, 2010, Itumalla et al 2014 Gronroos (1990) introduced a comprehensive list of six criteria for the proper understanding of service quality, such as professionalism and skills, attitudes and behavior, accessibility and flexibility, reliability and validity, recovery, reputation and solvency. Padma et al (2010) argue in their research that staff quality is the main dimension that affects patient satisfaction.…”

“…More generally, the concept of a simple production as a quality-related value-creation process under the limitation of activities that add weight is considered appropriate (Klee and Westgard, 2015). Itumalla et al (2014) suggest in their research that supportive services are the main factor affecting patient satisfaction. e. Safety indicators: They relate to the type of security measures a hospital has set up to protect patients physically and affect patients' perception of hospital quality.…”

“…Padma et al (2010) argue in their research that staff quality is the main dimension that affects patient satisfaction. Itumalla et al (2014) suggest in their research that after the support services, the most important factors affecting the overall quality of the hospitalization services are nursing, administrative and medical services, as well as communication with the patient. c. Clinical care process: A critical dimension of the quality of health care is the patient's experience of the different procedures that are part of his entire stay in the hospital.…”

“…Choi et al (2005) additionally support a structure of four factors, including the interest of the physician, the interest of the staff, the ease of the care process and the material elements, reflecting aspects of technical, functional, environmental and administrative quality. Itumalla et al (2014) argue that after the support services, the most important factors influencing the overall quality of the hospitalization services are nursing, administrative and medical services, as well as communication with the patient.…”

“…In the context of health care, one way of overcoming gaps in service quality is to use the patient's views to improve the health care process (Zeithaml et al, 1990 andDuggirala et al, 2008). Furthermore, recognition of the importance of quality of service is imperative, not only to provide better services to patients (Itumalla et al, 2014), but also to ensure the initial viability of the hospital and then its sustainable competitive advantage.…”