Importance-performance analysis: Revisiting a tool for the evaluation of clinical services
2014
The
importance-performance analysis method (IPA) is used in market research in
order to measure the level of customer satisfaction. The aim of this study was
to evaluate and highlight the use of IPA as a management tool to measure
quality of dental services. We suggest that this method can be easily
implemented in a dental educational setting, as a performance outcome measure
that includes patient input. The study was conducted in a dental service
through a valid questionnaire, SERVQUAL.
This instrument explores levels of service quality perceived by
patients. It was conducted in four companies in Brazil in 2011 (derived from
different industry segments; two from textiles, one from hospital care and the
other from the manufacturing industry) in two States (S?o Paulo and Minas Gerais).
These companies were covered by the same dental managed care organization which
contracted with independent dentists to provide care. The study was divided
into two stages: the first, in which beneficiaries answered the questionnaire
prior to receiving dental treatment, and the second when the same beneficiaries
answered after completing their dental treatment. Data obtained from SERVQUAL generated graphs
that were used to characterize the IPA matrix using
several dimensions of care. The Assurance Dimension had the highest average in
both expectation and perception. The Reliability dimension showed the value of
the most negative GAP among the dimensions, and the best value occurred in the
Responsiveness dimension. The IPA tool may be effective in Dental Medicine
since it highlights the key points to be improved in the delivery of dental
services in a clinical setting.
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