Kittiya Tachapiroj. A development model of urban community leader participation to improve Out-Patient Department service quality : Udonthani hospital . Doctoral Degree(Public Health ). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2005.
A development model of urban community leader participation to improve Out-Patient Department service quality : Udonthani hospital
Abstract:
This action research aimed to study the results of “A Model Development of
Urban Community Leader Participation to Improve Service Quality of the Out Patient
Department (OPD), Udonthani Hospital.” The study of the service quality concept was
applied from SERQUAL of Zeithml V.A., Parasuraman, A. & Berry, L.L. and the customer
satisfaction concept was applied from Aday & Anderson’s framework of access to medical
care. There were 3 instruments in conducting the research: 1) the service quality expectation
and perception questionnaire, 2) the customer satisfaction questionnaire and 3) the time
recording form. The data was analyzed by the one-way ANOVA statistics to compare the
improvement of the service quality. This research was divided into 2 phases:
1) Preparation phase: the phase was to analyze the service circumstances of
the OPD. The researcher evaluated the customers’ service quality expectations, perceptions,
satisfactions and the time spent in the OPD service. The group population was randomly
chosen from the customers who were served at the OPD. The results were as follows: the
OPD service quality was at a level of dissatisfaction, the service satisfaction of the OPD was
in the intermediate level, the spent time at the OPD service was 121.17 minutes and the
waiting time was 98.51 minutes.
2) Proceeding phase: the urban community participation of the OPD service
quality improvement was divided into 2 periods during 8 months. The results of the first
meeting of the urban community participation of the OPD service quality improvement could
create 3 service quality improvement projects. The 3 projects lasted 3 months and were
proceeded by the OPD patient care team. The evaluation was performed randomly from 275
OPD customers. The results were as follows: the service quality was in the satisfaction level
and it was significantly different from the preparation phase before proceeding (p-value <
0.001), the OPD service satisfaction was higher than before proceeding but there was no
significant difference. The spent time of the OPD service was 91.61 minutes and the waiting
time was 71.78 minutes and it was significantly different from before proceeding (p-value <
0.001).
After the second meeting, there were 5 projects proceeding in 3 months. The
evaluation was performed randomly from 276 OPD customers. It was found the service
quality was in a dissatisfaction level and there was no significant difference from before
proceeding, the OPD service satisfaction was higher than before proceeding and the
significant difference was p-value = 0.006. The time spent was 99.71 minutes, the waiting
time was 72.45 minutes and it was distinctly different from before proceeding (p-value
<0.001).
As for the research suggestions, the hospital should give more participation to the
urban community leader participation in the hospital’s service quality improvement and
motivate urban community leaders or customers to better participate in the hospital’s
activities. Further, it should further study the spent time in the OPD service in order to reduce
unnecessary steps of the service procedure and decrease the spent time and the waiting time at
the OPD.