Title: Healthcare quality: applying a SERVUSE model

Authors: Payam Mahmoudian; Hossein Ebrahimipour; Hassan Doosti; Reza Vafaee Najar; Hajar Haghighi; Elaheh Hooshmand; Seyede-Elahe Hosseini

Addresses: Student Research Committee, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ' Health Sciences Research Center, Department of Health and Management, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran ' Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia ' Health Sciences Research Center, Department of Health and Management, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran ' Department of health Management, Policy and Economics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ' Health Sciences Research Center, Department of Health and Management, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran ' Student Research Committee, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate service quality that is provided in hospitals affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences based on SERVUSE model in 2018. In this cross-sectional study, 130 cardiac surgery patients of three hospitals were being investigated using SERVUSE questionnaire. The questionnaire had six dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and usability. The validity was approved through the content validity and its reliability by using Cronbach's alpha. Data have been analysed by SPSS software. The gap between patient perceptions and expectations were as follows: tangibility (-0.52), usability (-0.23), reliability (-0.22), assurance (-0.21), responsiveness (-0.11) and empathy (0.06) and a significant relationship between expectations and perceptions and variables such as behavioural intention, perceived quality and satisfaction (p-value: 0.001). Managers should pay more attention to improve the physical environment of hospitals, utilise proper equipment in order to reduce quality gaps.

Keywords: quality of service; SERVUSE; patient preference; hospital; Iran.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2024.140465

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2024 Vol.15 No.4, pp.349 - 364

Accepted: 16 Oct 2023
Published online: 19 Aug 2024 *