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Quality assessment for improving healthcare service management

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to carry out an assessment of the quality of services provided to clients of medical clinics, transforming the subjectivity of their perceptions into consistent data to improve health services. We use an approach that integrates the Fuzzy Set Theory and the quality tools QFD and SERVQUAL in the health services sector, reducing the subjectivity of the client's perception of the service provided. According to the results, the requirement with the highest priority was ‘effectiveness'. So, managers need to give higher priority in terms of resources to try to take advantage of the customer's perception. The second high-priority requirement was ‘acceptability’. In relation to this requirement, service managers must prioritize actions related to the care, desires and values of patients and their families. It is interesting to understand the ‘equity' and ‘efficiency' requirements. In this case, the company's managers must observe the priority level over those evaluated with the lowest rating and allocate the company's resources to the highest priority requirements. This approach seeks to contribute to the publication of academic studies in health services, assessing the quality of health services in a more complete and effective way.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil (CNPQ) and the Fundação de Amparo a Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (FACEPE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Administrative Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Av. Academico Helio Ramos, s/n, CDU, Recife, PE, 50740-530, Brazil

    Deise de Araújo Batista

  2. University of Pernambuco, Av. Gov. Agamenon Magalhães - Santo Amaro, Recife, PE, 50100-010, Brazil

    Fagner José Coutinho de Melo

  3. Production Engineering Department, Federal University of Pernambuco, Av. Academico Helio Ramos, s/n, CDU, Recife, PE, 50740-530, Brazil

    André Philippi Gonzaga de Albuquerque & Denise Dumke de Medeiros

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  1. Deise de Araújo Batista
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  2. Fagner José Coutinho de Melo
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  3. André Philippi Gonzaga de Albuquerque
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  4. Denise Dumke de Medeiros
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Correspondence to André Philippi Gonzaga de Albuquerque.

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de Araújo Batista, D., de Melo, F.J.C., de Albuquerque, A.P.G. et al. Quality assessment for improving healthcare service management. Soft Comput 25, 13213–13227 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-021-06175-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-021-06175-5

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