Expectation and Perception of Clients toward to Service Quality Of Primary Care Unit, Khon Kaen

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate perception and expectation of clients toward to service quality of primary care unit in Khon Kaen Province among 660 clients selected by stratified. Data were collected by questionnaires and analyzed by using descriptive statistics, paired t-test and one-way ANOVA.

The results showed that 1) The overall perception of quality of service of primary care among clients was at a high level (mean =4.40, SD=0.51) and most aspects were at a high level. The level of service quality by gap, expectations and perceptions, found that the best dimension of service quality was congestion reduction, and followed by service access.  The service coverage is the lowest quality of service. 2) Mean difference in perceptions and expectations of primary care quality of clients was a statistically significant difference (p value < 0.001). The average perceived scores of those who used the service at health promoting hospitals were statistically significant difference from those who attended primary care units and primary care cluster (p-value=0.006 and p-value=0.045 respectively). The mean expectation of primary care quality of those who used service at the sub-district health promoting hospitals was statistically significant difference from those who attended the primary care units (p-value=0.020). Therefore, health service administrators and related persons should speed up the development of primary care service systems and primary care clusters, especially the dimension of quality, service coverage holistic service and consulting and in the aspect of creating participation and encouraging people to have the empowerment to take care of themselves and to align with the needs and expectations of the clients.