A CASE STUDY: APPLYING DEMATEL APPROACH TO DETERMINE FACTORS AFFECTING HOSPITAL SERVICE QUALITY IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Year 2018, Volume: 16 Issue: 32, 11 - 28, 29.11.2018

Yunus Taş , Feyyaz Cengiz Dikmen

Abstract

There are many studies in the literature that
utilized SERVQUAL model for measuring service quality. In this study, first of all,
the factors determining service quality were identified from point of views of
patients or those of their relatives by using the SERVQUAL model via a field
study. The result of this research; reveals nine
essential factors; appearance of service personnel,
doctors attitude towards patients, sufficient exploratory information on the
status of patients, warm and comfortable environment, staffs’ experience
level,  feeling of trust to services,
sufficiency of medical equipment, communication skills, advice on rational
medicine usage. After identifying the main factors affecting service quality,
the importance level of each of the identified factors as well as the causal
relationships among them are determined by applying the DEMATEL (Decision
Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method, which is one of the
multi-criteria decision making methods, to the hospital administrators that are
regarded as experts within the field of health. According to the results of the
study, patients’ feeling a sense of security from the medical services provided
to them emerged as the most important factor in determining service quality,
whereas dress and tidy appearance of service personnel appears to be the least
significant factor.

Keywords

Hospital Service Quality, SERVQUAL

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