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The scope of this study is to explore and summarize the pool of dimensions, models and measurement techniques of service quality used in healthcare services and to propose a comprehensive conceptual model for practitioners and researchers.

This research employs a comprehensive review of available literature by using multiple keywords on different electronic repositories using the recommendations of the PRISMA approach for the selection of articles. A critical analysis of available studies helped in compiling a list of core service quality dimensions in healthcare services.

This paper presents a comprehensive account of different dimensions and their measurement items used by various researchers to assess service quality in healthcare systems. Most of the researchers have used SERVQUAL model either in its original or modified form while the others have proposed and used totally different dimensions to assess the service quality in healthcare. Many dimensions are just an existing dimension of SERVQUAL that has undergone a name change while others are completely new. The dimensions used by many researchers have items drawn from more than one dimension of SERVQUAL model. The availability of so many dimensions and models adds to the confusion that researchers and practicing managers experience when determining the appropriate model to be used in their work. To mitigate this confusion, there is a need to develop a comprehensive model; the current work is an attempt to meet this need. Through our analysis, we identify four major service quality dimensions: clinical quality, infrastructural quality, relationship and managerial quality and propose a model named CIRMQUAL.

After exploring all available models in the domain of healthcare, this research presents the best possible areas to enhance the quality of healthcare services. It also enhances the research insights for academicians and working professionals by developing and proposing a comprehensive model for measuring healthcare service quality. The proposed model covers almost all of the service quality dimensions used by other researchers and will make the choice of dimensions/model easy for the future researchers/practitioners interested in measuring and improving the quality of services offered by their healthcare units. Such a comprehensive model has not been developed by any researcher thus far.

The objective of this work is twofold: firstly, to develop a model for assessing healthcare service quality (HSQ), and secondly, to evaluate the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in predicting the quality of healthcare services.

In this study, a comprehensive literature review has been performed to identify key quality dimensions in the healthcare services domain. Delphi’s method has been used to confirm the criticality of these dimensions based on experts’ opinions and proposed a novel CIRMQUAL model. Factor analysis techniques have been used to further validate the CIRMQUAL model. Using the data collected through a questionnaire survey, a number of machine learning models have been developed to predict the customer satisfaction level based on the service quality (SQ) performance of a healthcare unit on different dimensions of the CIRMQUAL model.

The study developed a CIRMQUAL model with 14 dimensions (quality of care, safety and security, skill and conduct, staff attitude, tangibles, quality of the atmosphere, patient rights, follow-up, communication, cost of treatment, availability of resources, accessibility, waiting time and services), and these dimensions have been clubbed into four major dimensions, i.e. clinical quality, infrastructural quality, relationship and managerial quality. Furthermore, the application of machine learning algorithms has demonstrated significant accuracy in predicting SQ, highlighting its ability to improve healthcare services and the satisfaction level of patients.

Managers of healthcare units work hard to identify and address the pain points of the patients and improve the working of the healthcare units being managed by them. The availability of many scales with numerous dimensions adds to their confusion in selecting a suitable scale. The current work addresses this confusion and provides four clear areas for assessing the quality of healthcare units. By using this scale, managers can assess the quality of services provided by them, identify the dimensions of low performance, plan and take suitable corrective actions to improve the performance of their healthcare units.

A comprehensive SQ model, i.e. CIRMQUAL has been proposed as a new scale to assess SQ in healthcare units. The model has been developed after analyzing the dimensions used by many researchers available in the literature. This model can be used by future researchers to assess the SQ in healthcare units. Moreover, an attempt has been made to use artificial intelligence-based techniques for predicting customer satisfaction. Such attempts are in the initial stage for healthcare sector. Future researchers can take this concept forward and test the applicability of different machine learning techniques in different functional areas of healthcare.

Good health is of utmost importance for all human beings. In spite of the expenditure of substantial time and efforts by various stakeholders, the service delivery doesn’t match the expectations of patients. Many times, the service providers are not aware of this dissatisfaction and specific aspects of service delivery that need to be improved to reduce dissatisfaction. The model proposed will help the service providers in this regard and the service providers will be able to take focused steps. Such initiatives will definitely improve patient’s satisfaction and their social well-being.

This work is unique because it uses a novel technique to redefine the quality of services in healthcare by using a dual methodology. The research presents a model that includes various factors and it is specially developed to evaluate the quality of services in healthcare settings. This study advances the area’s progress by implementing computational tools for accurate evaluation of HSQ. The healthcare decision-makers may use this novel perspective to evaluate and enhance the quality of service.

Theory of Constraints (TOC), though a well-established process improvement methodology in manufacturing, is still a novel philosophy for healthcare and an exhaustive review of literature is needed to summarize the key findings of various researchers. Such a review can provide a direction to the researchers and academicians interested in exploring the application of TOC in the healthcare sector. This paper aims to review the existing literature of TOC tools and techniques applied to the healthcare environment, and to investigate motivating factors, benefits and key gaps for identifying directions for future research in the domain of healthcare.

In this paper, different electronic repositories were searched using multiple keywords. The current study identified 36 articles published between January 1999 to mid-2021 to conceptualize and summarize the research questions used in the study. Descriptive analysis along with pictorial representations have been used for better visualization of work.

This paper presents a thorough literature review of TOC in healthcare and identifies the evolution, current trends, tools used, nature of services chosen for application and research gaps and recommends future direction for research. A variety of motivating factors and benefits of TOC in healthcare are identified. Another key finding of this study is that almost all implementations listed in literature reported positive outcomes and substantial improvements in the performance of the healthcare unit chosen for study.

This paper provides valuable insight to researchers, practitioners and policymakers on the potential of TOC to improve quality of services, flow of patients, revenues, process efficiency and cost reduction in different health care settings. A number of findings and suggestions compiled in the paper from literature study can be used for diagnosing, learning and making substantial changes in healthcare. The methodologies used by different researchers were analysed and combined to propose a generic step by step procedure to apply TOC. This methodology will guide the practising managers about the appropriate tools of TOC for their specific need.

Good health is always the first desire of all men and women around the globe. The global aim of healthcare is to quickly cure more patients and ensure healthier population both today and in future. This article will work as a foundation for future applications of TOC in healthcare and guide upcoming applications in the booming healthcare sector. The paper will help the healthcare managers in serving a greater number of patients with limited available resources.

This paper provides original collaborative work compiled by the authors. Since no comprehensive systematic review of TOC in healthcare has been reported earlier, this study would be a valuable asset for researchers in this field. A model has been presented that links various benefits with one another and clarifies the need to focus on process improvement which naturally results in these benefits. Similarly, a model has been presented to guide the users in implementation of TOC in healthcare.