Search results

This paper synthesises the literature on the issues related to the older patient, health service quality and its measurement. It discusses the need to consider these perspectives in the definition and assessment of quality of a community‐focused aged healthcare programme, and critically examines the existing evaluation of quality in healthcare, contrasting the patient's role and impact on the quality of the service and its outcome. The paper then reviews the documented problems associated with using satisfaction as an indicator of the patient's view of quality. An alternate validated approach to measuring the patient's perception of the quality of the service is identified in the services literature; this multidimensional hierarchical tool and scale, which specifically measures the patient's view of quality, is presented. The tool covers nine sub‐dimensions, four dimensions and the global perspective of quality as perceived by the patient. An adaptation of this tool is presented to measure the patient's view of quality using the relatively new Transition Aged Care programme as an example, and make the argument for the holistic measurement of transitional aged care quality, using a validated and reliable patient‐specific tool. Importantly, the paper proposes that the identification of the patient view of service quality will offer information that could specifically assist with service improvement.

To counteract increasing competition and satisfy evolving customers’ needs, many firms are changing the positioning of their product concepts, from being product-based into service-based. Despite the increasing relevance of this shift, it is still unclear if this choice has a differential impact on customer perceived value. The purpose of this paper is to analyze customer perceived value for a firm’s product concept being positioned either as service-based or goods-based.

An experiment was conducted using stimuli for two different product categories (hearing aids and bicycles) and measuring customers perceived value through the PERVAL scale’s four dimensions (quality value, emotional value, price value and social value).

The results show that presenting the product concepts as service-based instead of good-based can enhance customer perceived value (in particular: quality, emotional and social value), but only if customers are not familiar with the product.

The study is based on one experiment and considers only two product categories. Further studies are needed to corroborate findings.

The findings suggest that, under specific circumstances, the firm may improve customers’ attitude toward the product by emphasizing a service-based instead of a good-based positioning of the product concept.

To our knowledge, this is the first research to evaluate the effects on customer perceived value of repositioning a product which has been traditionally goods-based (such a hearing aid and a bicycle) into service-based.

This paper aims to review the patient satisfaction literature, specifically meta‐analyses, which critically analyses its theory and use; then to present evidence for perceived service quality as a separate and more advanced construct.

Papers that judiciously review the development and application of patient satisfaction were identified; along with studies addressing the conceptual and methodological deficiencies associated with the concept; and the current perceived service quality theory.

Patient satisfaction has been extensively studied and considerable effort has gone into developing survey instruments to measure it. However, most reviews have been critical of its use, since there is rarely any theoretical or conceptual development of the patient satisfaction concept. The construct has little standardisation, low reliability and uncertain validity. It continues to be used interchangeably with, and as a proxy for, perceived service quality, which is a conceptually different and superior construct.

The persistent use of patient satisfaction to evaluate the client's perception of the quality of a health service is seriously flawed. The key to solving this dilemma may be for the healthcare sector to focus on perceived health service quality by considering the specific concepts and models that can be found in the services marketing literature. This literature offers more advanced consumer theories which are better differentiated and tested than existing healthcare satisfaction models.

The paper points out that there is an urgent need for differentiation and standardisation of satisfaction and service quality definitions and constructs, and argues for research to focus on measuring perceived health service quality.

The purpose of the paper is to identify and describe the themes underlying four concepts: client orientation, client involvement, provider empowerment, and client empowerment, which have been reported in the literature as influencing service participant interaction in the formation of a service. The meaning that service participants assign to each of those themes is also to be examined.

Triadic studies were undertaken in two separate locations with three discrete community‐based service networks, purposively recruited from the same aged healthcare organisation. Using a phenomological approach, 29 individual semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with managers, providers, and clients were conducted. Inductive and deductive analysis was used to identify the emerging themes and their meaning for each participant category.

Key themes were identified for each concept, but the meaning ascribed to each theme was found to differ between the participant categories. It is suggested that these results reflect participant role differences in the service co‐creation process.

The findings are limited by the small sample and its relative homogeneity.

The findings offer service managers insights into how to engage clients in the service creation process, which in turn will affect the ultimate quality of the service that is created. They also provide information that will assist with service design, staff selection, training, and assessment.

This is the first study that investigates the four concepts, client orientation, client involvement, provider empowerment, and client empowerment, in the context of service co‐creation. It identifies associated abstract themes and the applied meaning differences of the service participants.

The substitution of generic prescription medicines for branded medicines is being practiced in most westernised countries, with evidence of a strong focus on evaluating and monitoring its economic impacts. In contrast, the purpose of this paper is to explore the generic substitution experience of customers and pharmacists in a pharmacy practice setting.

The study applied a phenomenological method using the narrative inquiry technique combined with critical event analysis, in order to understand the generic medicine experience as perceived by customers and pharmacists as key substitution actors. Interviews were conducted with 15 pharmacists and 30 customers in Australia, Finland and Italy, using a narrative inquiry technique combined with critical events and metaphors.

The findings show that customers, with poor awareness of generic prescription medicine when offered as a substitute, were likely to become confused and suspicious. Pharmacists related how they felt challenged by having to facilitate generic substitution by educating unaware customers, in isolation from both the prescribing doctor and the government/insurer. They also experienced frustration due to the mistrust and annoyance their customers displayed.

The findings suggest that to increase generic substitution, open dialogue is paramount between all the participants of this service network, along with the development of targeted promotional materials.

Little is known about how customers and pharmacists experience the service phenomenon of generic medicine substitution. This paper explores how the key actors at the point of substitution make sense of the process. Additionally, the methodology provides a technique for obtaining a deeper understanding of both the customer and pharmacist experience of generic medicine, along with insights into how the uptake of generic medicine might be improved.