Analysis of Satisfaction Level of Hospitals with Blood Services from the Korean Red Cross

Cho, Nam Sun; Lee, Mi Jung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Blood transfusion service has been expansively developed in quantity. As hospital users require better services, needs for qualitative improvements has increased. Currently, only limited information is available on the level of satisfaction of hospital users with services delivered by blood centers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the levels of satisfaction of hospitals with services from the Korean Red Cross Blood Centers. METHOD: To assess quality of customer service provided by 8 blood centers of the Korean Red Cross, a questionnaire survey was performed. The questionnaire was composed of 19 items that are related to hospital users'ss satisfaction with several aspects of services including blood delivery, efficacy and safety of blood components, laboratory test, exchange of information about blood, and the supply of newly developed blood products. RESLUTS: Hospital users were largely satisfied with services provided by Red Cross Blood Centers (dissatisfaction rate: 2.3%). The level of overall satisfaction of blood collecting hospitals were relatively lower than those of the rest (p<0.01). Improvement in the delivery of blood components was in highest need among all areas of services. Most respondents recognized high need for sharing information on blood and transfusion between hospitals and blood supply centers. The demand for newly developed blood components was significantly higher in large hospitals with blood bank than those without blood bank (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
The safety of blood recipients and the efficiency of blood supply should be further improved through better blood-related services. Because of limitations in available resources, all the field of services can not be improved at the same time. For this reason, it is important to identify appropriate approaches through close cooperation between the blood centers and hospitals. To this end, a mechanism for active exchange of information should be devised.