Title: An integrated conceptual model for achieving global quality service in healthcare establishments

Authors: D. Gopi; A. Pal Pandi; P.V. Rajendra Sethupathi; K.P. Paranitharan; D. Jeyathilagar

Addresses: ULTRA College of Engineering and Technology for Women, Madurai, Tamil Nadu-625104, India ' Bharath Niketan Engineering College, Aundipatty, Theni Dist-625301, Tamil Nadu, India ' Higher College of Technology, Muscat-133, Oman ' College of Engineering, Anna University, Guindy, Chennai, 600025, Tamil Nadu, India ' Corporate Research Initiatives, Madurai-625021, India

Abstract: Ever rising patients' expectations demand quality healthcare service from healthcare establishments (HCEs) for its sustenance which necessitated developing of a comprehensive quality healthcare model, for the measuring the performance of HCEs. So, the authors developed a model called 'integrated quality healthcare system' (IQHS). IQHS is a bundle of the various quality management systems and concepts. It consists of ten important critical factors (CFs), extracted from extant literature reviews. The result has revealed that the critical factor 'hospital culture' plays an important role in quality healthcare service, based on the mean values, calculated from the views of stakeholders and customers and the remaining nine CFs should be given priority to attain excellence in healthcare service. The proposed comprehensive model may fulfil the needs of stakeholders and customers in terms of upgraded quality of service, improved healthcare environment, reduced operating cost of HCE, patient satisfaction, patient safety and employees' satisfaction.

Keywords: critical factors; healthcare establishments; HCE; integrated quality healthcare system; IQHS; quality management concepts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2019.099654

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2019 Vol.33 No.1, pp.49 - 68

Received: 06 Dec 2016
Accepted: 27 Apr 2017
Published online: 20 May 2019 *

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