Quality of service and customer satisfaction towards health care services at the medical outpatient department (OPD MED), Bamrasnaradura institute, 2003

Abstract

Bamrasnaradura Institute is a health care setting that provides care for communicable and non-communicable diseases. The customers of this Institute viced their dissatisfaction with health care services in the outpatient department. Therefore, the objectives of this cross-sectional descriptive research study were to assess the quality of service and customer satisfaction, and to determine the association between these two variables. The populations were patients or their caretakers at the Medical Outpatient Department. A self-administered questionnaire with a sample size of 400 subjects was used. The study found that most of the respondent's ages were in the 15-30 and 31-45 ranges, with equal percentages of 39.8%. The gender of the participants was also almost equally divided; 194 males at 48% and 206 females at 51.5%. Most of the respondents, 74.3%, had visited the Institute three or more times. The largest occupational was the self-employed at 21.3%. The educational level with the highest percentage was a Bachelor's Degree with 27.5%. and the highest income rate was 10,001-30,000 Baht per month at 21.3%. The study found that customers rated the overall quality of care at a moderate level. Among the respondents, 63.5% were satisfied with the appropriate clinic environment, 59.2% with the competence of the staff, and 56.0% with the personal interest of the staff towards them. Customer satisfaction was also at a moderate level. Most of the respondents, 68.5%, were satisfied with convenience and 61.3% with the staffs courtesy. Satisfaction with the coordination of health car services was at 57.5% and for the medical information provided 54.5% was satisfied. The association between quality of care and customer satisfaction was significant (p<0.05) in a positive direction. However, the relationship between them was not very strong (r<.8), supporting the previous finding that quality of service and satisfaction was moderate. This study found many factors that reflected the customer's satisfaction: lengthy waiting time, unfriendly and temperamental staff. To increase the overall average satisfaction of quality, we need to consider what the customer's needs are and then provide appropriate services to address those needs. For example, the doctor should visit the clinic earlier and the health care staff should be friendlier by smiling and offering comforting words whenever talking with the patient.