Enhancing Hospital Services: Achieving High Quality Under Resource Constraints

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Operations Research
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Improving hospital service quality is crucial for patient satisfaction.
• Existing methods may not adequately address resource constraints in prioritizing improvements.
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD) offers a framework for translating customer needs into technical requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance hospital service quality by integrating Quality Function Deployment (QFD) with a novel Multi-Dimensional House of Quality (MD-HOQ) approach.
• To effectively select and prioritize technical requirements considering resource limitations.
• To bridge the gap between patient expectations and service delivery.

Main Methods:

• Applied the MD-HOQ approach in a private hospital, gathering data from 8 experts and 386 patients.
• Utilized the Analytic Hierarchy Process for weighting hospital sections and Service Quality (SERVQUAL) analysis for patient needs.
• Employed a mathematical model to optimize technical requirements under financial and workforce constraints.

Main Results:

• Identified 50 patient needs across 5 hospital sections and 40 technical requirements.
• Prioritized "training practitioners and nurses," "improving staff responsibility," and "using experienced specialists" for implementation.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of MD-HOQ in identifying key areas for service enhancement.

Conclusions:

• The integrated QFD, MD-HOQ, and SERVQUAL approach provides a robust framework for hospital managers.
• Effective prioritization of technical requirements ensures optimal resource allocation.
• This methodology leads to improved patient satisfaction and enhanced overall hospital service quality.