Experiencing health care service quality: through patient's eyes

Abstract

Objective The primary aim of the present study was to consider health care service quality from the patients’ perspective, specifically through the patient’s eyes. Method A narrative analysis was performed on 300 patient stories. This rigorous analysis of patient stories is designed to identify and describe health care service quality through patients’ eyes in an authentic and accurate, experiential manner. Results The findings show that there are variant and complex ways that patients experience health care service quality. Conclusion Patient stories offer an authentic view of the complex ways that patients experience health care service quality. Narrative analysis is a useful tool to identify and describe how patients experience health care service quality. Patients experience health care service quality in complex and varying ways. What is known about the topic? Patient satisfaction measures are increasingly used for benchmark and accreditation purposes. Measures of patient satisfaction are considered indicative measures of service quality and quality of care. However, the measurement of patient satisfaction and service quality is not an accurate reflection of what and how patients experience health care. What does this paper add? This paper takes a narrative approach and analyses 300 patient stories to demonstrate the essence of patients’ evaluation of health care service quality. What are the implications for practitioners? Health care service quality is shown to be experienced in various ways. Identifying and describing these different ways of experiencing health care service quality provides practitioners with strategic insight into improving the quality of service they provide outside the realm of objective satisfaction measures. These findings also demonstrate the value in a third-party feedback system.