Liu Sha, Hu Yinhuan, Pfaff Holger, Feng Xiandong, Xie Jinzhu, Zhang Zemiao, Li Dehe
School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Major Disciplinary Platform under Double First-Class Initiative for Liberal Arts at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Research Center for High-Quality Development of Hospitals) , China.
Heliyon. 2024 Sep 11;10(18):e37766. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37766. eCollection 2024 Sep 30.
Improving the quality of care relies on understanding patients' perceptions and expectations based on their experiences. The study aimed to determine the gaps between patients' perceived value and expected value, and to identify critical areas for outpatient service improvement.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in China from November 2020 to February 2021. A sample of 572 outpatients, randomly selected from a comprehensive tertiary public hospital, was surveyed using a validated patient perceived value questionnaire. Importance-performance analysis was used to evaluate the differences between patients' perceived and expected value.
The scores of patients' expected value for outpatient services were significantly higher than their perceived value in all 29 items and 8 dimensions. The items with the highest and lowest gaps were "short waiting time" (-1.52) and "hospital reputation and popularity" (-0.24) respectively, and the dimensions of price and efficiency (functional value) were located in the quadrant of high expectation and low perception.
Our findings are useful for hospital administrators and policymakers to identify strategic focus areas and allocate resources rationally and effectively. We suggest healthcare providers should take measures to narrow the gaps, especially in terms of service efficiency and price.
提高医疗质量依赖于基于患者经历来理解他们的认知和期望。本研究旨在确定患者感知价值与期望价值之间的差距，并找出门诊服务改进的关键领域。
本横断面研究于2020年11月至2021年2月在中国开展。从一家综合性三级公立医院随机抽取572名门诊患者作为样本，使用经过验证的患者感知价值问卷进行调查。采用重要性-绩效分析来评估患者感知价值与期望价值之间的差异。
在所有29个项目和8个维度上，患者对门诊服务的期望价值得分均显著高于其感知价值。差距最大和最小的项目分别是“等待时间短”（-1.52）和“医院声誉和知名度”（-0.24），价格和效率（功能价值）维度位于高期望和低感知象限。
我们的研究结果有助于医院管理者和政策制定者确定战略重点领域，并合理有效地分配资源。我们建议医疗服务提供者应采取措施缩小差距，特别是在服务效率和价格方面。
