Korean J Prev Med.  2000 Dec;33(4):495-504.

Dimensions of Consumer Ratings of a Hospital Outpatient Service Quality

• Moon KT
• Yu SH
• Cho WH
• Kim DK
• Lee Y

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To examine various dimensions of consumer ratings of health care service with factor analysis and to find which factors influence the overall quality of health care service.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted on outpatients of a general hospital located in Sungnam City. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the consumer? ratings of health care service received. The response rate was 92.8% with a total of 537 persons completing the questionnaire. Factor analysis was performed on 34 items evaluating the quality of health care service. Items were grouped into 5 dimensions as a result of factor analysis and the reliability and validity of influence on patient service assessment were evaluated for each dimension.
RESULTS
The 5 dimensions were as follows ; 1) physician services, 2) non-physician services, 3) process 4) facilities, and 5) cleanliness. A positive correlation with the quality of health care service was found for the dimensions of non-physician services and process, while no significant correlation was found for the dimensions of physician services, facilities, and cleanliness.
CONCLUSIONS
The result of this study may provide basic information for the development of future self-administered questionnaires of consumer ratings and for the evaluation of quality improvement activities in hospital outpatient settings.

Keyword

Quality of health care; Consumer satisfaction; Factor analysis

MeSH Terms

Consumer Satisfaction
Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Gyeonggi-do
Hospitals, General
Humans
Outpatients*
Quality Improvement
Quality of Health Care
Surveys and Questionnaires
Reproducibility of Results