Importance-performance analysis: Revisiting a tool for the evaluation of clinical services

Abstract

The importance-performance analysis method (IPA) is used in market research in order to measure the level of customer satisfaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate and highlight the use of IPA as a management tool to measure quality of dental services. We suggest that this method can be easily implemented in a dental educational setting, as a performance outcome measure that includes patient input. The study was conducted in a dental service through a valid questionnaire, SERVQUAL. This instrument explores levels of service quality perceived by patients. It was conducted in four companies in Brazil in 2011 (derived from different industry segments; two from textiles, one from hospital care and the other from the manufacturing industry) in two States (São Paulo and Minas Gerais). These companies were covered by the same dental managed care organization which contracted with independent dentists to provide care. The study was divided into two stages: the first, in which beneficiaries answered the questionnaire prior to receiving dental treatment, and the second when the same beneficiaries answered after completing their dental treatment. Data obtained from SERVQUAL generated graphs that were used to characterize the IPA matrix using several dimensions of care. The Assurance Dimension had the highest average in both expectation and perception. The Reliability dimension showed the value of the most negative GAP among the dimensions, and the best value occurred in the Responsiveness dimension. The IPA tool may be effective in Dental Medicine since it highlights the key points to be improved in the delivery of dental services in a clinical setting.

Identification of quality gaps in healthcare services using the SERVQUAL instrument and importance-performance analysis in medical intensive care: a prospective study at a medical center in Taiwan

“…IPA has been advocated as a guide to improving service quality [44], and it has been suggested to be better than measuring the performance alone to predict healthcare quality and for further improvement [12]. The application of IPA has also been reported in hospitals in the East Asian region [45], and several studies that have used both SERVQUAL and IPA have been conducted in the healthcare setting [45][46][47][48][49], indicating a trend for greater focus on patient-orientedness. The results of SERVQUAL in this study were not compared with the results of a satisfaction survey in this unit, which was conducted periodically but not for every hospitalized patient.…”

“…Application of the SERVQUAL instrument in the healthcare sector remains limited, and a newer model has been developed to measure health service quality [6], which has been validated in the healthcare setting. Finally, although we applied IPA to the analysis of data obtained from SERVQUAL surveys, there is a need for a solid basis for expectation and perception of the SERVQUAL to be represented by the importance and performance of the IPA, even though there have been several reports of the combination of SERVQUAL and IPA in the area of healthcare [45][46][47][48][49]. Therefore, the interpretation of IPA findings should be limited to compare the expectation and perception expressed by the responders of the SERVQUAL survey.…”

Health Services Quality Between Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Community Health Services in the Sleman District, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“…The IPA analysis was conducted to compare expectation and reality of the customers' satisfaction about services (12) . To analyze the satisfaction about health services, a Cartesian diagram was required for mapping the quality of PROLANIS services among hypertension and diabetes patients in CHSs.…”

“…To analyze the satisfaction about health services, a Cartesian diagram was required for mapping the quality of PROLANIS services among hypertension and diabetes patients in CHSs. The component of Cartesian diagram was divided into four areas: in quadrant 1, expectation of patients is low, and reality is low; in quadrant 2, expectation of patients is high yet reality is low; in quadrant 3, expectation of patients is high, and reality is high; and in quadrant 4, expectation of patients is low, but reality is high (11,12) . For searching difference in quality health services among respondents, the Man-Whitney method in SPSS version 23 was used.…”

Analysis of customer satisfaction to quality of service using Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) on PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia. (Case study Telkom Divre IV Central Java & Yogyakarta)

“…There are two main factors that affect the quality of services, the expected service and perceived service. The main dimensions of service quality are arranged in order of their relative importance [3], among others, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.…”