Quality Assessment of Medical Laboratory Services from Patient's Perspective

Service quality is defined as patients’ self-reported experience of care, and is used as a measurement tool for evaluating systems quality. This study was aimed to assess the quality of services from the perspective of patients who used the medical laboratory of Tabriz Heart and Cardiovascular Hospital (Shahid Madani) to evaluate and improve service quality at this laboratory.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a sample of 150 patients who used our laboratory. Service quality was calculated based on importance and performance of non-health aspects from the customers’ perspective. A researcher-developed questionnaire whose validity and reliability was reviewed and confirmed was used for data collecting. Data were analyzed using SPSS-14 software. Independent sample t-test and Regression test were used to investigate the relationship between service quality dimensions and categorical variables.

From the customers’ perspective, the average service quality score in our laboratory was 7.93 out of 10 which is relatively a low score. Meanwhile, in some aspects, such as respect and immediate attention by the laboratory staff, good interactions and trust on the laboratory with a score higher than 8, achieved acceptable quality. The ease of access to the laboratory achieved 5.78 score which is the lowest among the dimensions of services quality.

Our findings have clarified that even in a high ranking hospital, there are still significant points for service quality improvement in most aspects such as human resources, basic utilities, and technical equipment.