Service Quality And Organizational Performance In The Health Sector: A Case Of Mama Lucy Hospital, Nairobi

Abstract

Delivery of health services is an important component of healthcare in society at large, and organizations that are involved in the business naturally strive to see that their performance meets and exceeds patient‘s expectations. However, in most cases what obtains in public organization is usually pathetic, hence the study is necessitated by the current state of affairs. The study aimed at assessing service quality effect on performance of Mama Lucy Hospital. The study used descriptive survey design while data was collected from the target population analysed and logical conclusions on the interrelationship between phenomena derived. The study was carried out with a target population comprising all in-patients and out-patients in the healthcare setting. A systematic random sampling was used, and a sample size of 60 taken. The findings show that customers use tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy dimensions when evaluating service quality, and these dimensions influence an organizations‘ performance. The effect of service quality on performance is an important factor in building public confidence in hospital services. In lieu of the findings, service quality as perceived by patients in an hospital setting is determined by cleanliness, hygiene and well maintained equipment‘s. clean and well-groomed nurses and doctors, comfortable patient‘s rooms, acceptable time period for diagnosis and treatment, shorter time waiting, competence of doctors and skilfulness of nurses, levels of privacy during treatment, respectfulness of doctors and nurses among other factors that the patients may consider as characteristics of service quality. The recommendations were that the hospital may use the service quality perception of the patients to aid it in developing a house of quality, the hospital may use the findings to aid it in making strategic decisions to improve its performance and focus more on service assessment and reduction of time lags and improvement of interfaces between the patients and the hospital.