Service Quality

Service quality is a comparison of expectations with

performance. A business with high service quality will
meet customer needs whilst remaining economically
competitive. Improved service quality may increase
economic competitiveness.

Gaps in service quality

Gap 1: The difference between actual customer
expectations and managements idea or perception of
customer expectations.
Gap 2: Mismatch between managers expectations of
service quality and service quality specifications.
Gap 3: Poor delivery of service quality i.e. difference
between service delivery and service quality
specifications.
Gap 4: Differences between service delivery and
external communication with customer.
Gap 5: The difference between what customers expect
of a service and what they actually receive.
service delivery, quality has become an essential
prerequisite even in the healthcare sector. The SERVQUAL
model pioneered by Parasuraman et al. (1988) measures
service quality and identifies the potential gaps within the
service organizations
Classical marketin g was based on the concept of supply.
Gone are the days when customers, being part of the
seller's market, were prepared to take anything that was
supplied. With the ever-increasing competition on the
supply side consequent to implementation of new
economic policy in respect of Liberalization, Privatization
and Globalization (LPG), the situation on the demand side
has been changing rapidly. Customers in these days have
started to assert themselves to opt for products with
superior quality/service at affordable price, which is also
applicable to the healthcare industry. Competition is

intensifying in the healthcare industry with the opening up

of more and more hospitals. Quality thus gained a focal
point in crafting a nd implementation of strategies at the
organizational level.
Implementation of service quality measures improves
operational efficiency in the healthcare sector, resulting in
optimum resource allocation, minimum wastage of
available resource and significant improvement in the
quality, leading to considerable improvement in value
addition to the end-users of the hospital service. The
primar y obligation of hospitals are morals and ethical
principals. The legal responsibility is to protect the interests
of the patients by maintaining quality services.
Huge investments have been made by the central and
state governments, and private organizations on
infrastructure, drugs, creating awareness about health and
diseases, and manpower with an objective to provide
quality healthcare to the people (Table 1). Patients from
Below Poverty Line (BPL) and middle income groups are
utilizing public healthcare services due to lack of affordable
income and the other income groups are availing treatment
from private hospitals.

scale consisted of five dimensions, viz.,

reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and
tangibles. The description of these
dimensions is as follows:
. Reliability. Ability to provide services accurately and
dependably.
. Responsiveness. Readiness or quickness in responding
to customers needs.
. Assurance. Courtesy and knowledge of the employees
and their ability to convey
trust and confidence.

. Empathy. Caring and individualized attention provided

to customers.
. Tangibles. Physical evidence in a service facility (e.g.
personnel, equipment, etc).
Factors Influencing Service Quality in Health Care
Socio-demographic factors influence the
interaction between a provider and the patient and
consequently the quality of services
Some patients ask their doctors to prescribe medicines. They believe that they
will not be healed unless they take medicines. Patient persistence to get a
specific medicine influences physicians to do so to satisfy the patient
Lack of a robust referral system and a low medical tariff are the main reasons for
a doctors tendency to meet patient (irrational) requests.
Patients financial status may affect the quality of healthcare services.
Quality of patient care depends directly on the quality of patient education and
responsibility. Patients knowledge of their rights influences their expectations of
quality services:
The patients attitude and behaviour also affects the attitudes of care-givers. If a
patient behaves himself or herself, care-givers unintentionally provide better
services