The service quality of clinical laboratories.

Abstract

A clinical laboratory can achieve its service objectives more effectively if a systematic process for customer input is incorporated into its quality management program. Two main types of information are required from customers: their expectations of the clinical laboratory service and their evaluation of the actual performance of the laboratory. Many service organisations obtain this information by measuring customer perceptions of service quality. Service quality is a performance evaluation that measures the difference between customers' expectations and their perceptions of the service actually received. The purpose of this study was the development of an instrument for the measurement of the service quality of a clinical laboratory. This was effected by the customisation of SERVQUAL, the service quality measure most widely used by service organisations. The study also investigated the properties of the service quality instrument and the measurement of the two component parts of the service quality construct, namely customer expectations and customer perceptions. The research strategy incorporated the following steps. The factors which are relevant in determining the service quality of a clinical laboratory were identified through a review of the relevant literature and in-depth interviews with clinicians. The identified issues were used to customise SERVQUAL. Separate scales for customer expectations and customer perceptions were formulated from the customised scale. The results of the study were as follows. First, the customised scale was shown to have psychometric properties that were superior to those of the original scale. Secondly, the expectations and perceptions parts of the service quality scale can be administered separately without affecting the quality of the data obtained. Thirdly, the psychometric properties of the expectations and perceptions measures were considerably different. The properties of the service quality scale combined features of the properties of both the expectations and perceptions instruments. Finally, gap scores calculated from mean expectations scores performed better than the classical SERVQUAL gap scores. The results of the study served as a basis for recommendations regarding the significance and value of expectations, perceptions and service quality measurements, and their incorporation into the quality management programs of clinical laboratories.