=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper84
|storemode=property
|title=MUlticriteria Satisfaction Analysis Application in the Health Care Sector
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper84.pdf
|volume=Vol-1498
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/DrososTZCS15
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==MUlticriteria Satisfaction Analysis Application in the Health Care Sector==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper84.pdf
MUlticriteria Satisfaction Analysis Application in the
Health Care Sector
Dimitrios Drosos1, Νikolaos Tsotsolas2, Athanasia Zagga3, Miltiadis Chalikias4,
Michalis Skordoulis5
1
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Economics, Department of
Business Administration, Business School, 250 Thivon & Petrou Ralli, Egaleo, Greece,
e-mail: drososd@teipir.gr
2
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Economics, Department of
Business Administration, Business School, 250 Thivon & Petrou Ralli, Egaleo, Greece,
e-mail: ntsotsol@unipi.gr
3
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Economics, Department of
Business Administration, Business School, 250 Thivon & Petrou Ralli, Egaleo, Greece,
e-mail: athanstell@hotmail.com
4
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Economics, Department of
Business Administration, Business School, 250 Thivon & Petrou Ralli, Egaleo, Greece,
e-mail: mchalikias@hotmail.com
5
Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Economics, Department of
Business Administration, Business School, 250 Thivon & Petrou Ralli, Egaleo, Greece,
e-mail: mskordoulis@gmail.com
Abstract. During the last decades the interest of health scientists has been
increasingly focused on patients’ needs, the quality of the services offered and
the satisfaction level from the available health care. The measurement and
evaluation of patient satisfaction is a milestone for the improvement of the
services provided – procedures, given that these results can provide a useful
variety of information and data that will lead to a high level of health services.
For the purpose of this project the results presented concern a measurement of
the satisfaction level of patients treated by the Greek Red Cross and more
specifically by a service called “Nursing at home”. For the collection of the
data, questionnaires were used in order to better record the patients’ views on
the health care service overall as well as their satisfaction levels on particular
aspects of the service. The analysis of the results has been based on the
multicriteria MUSA method, which is part of the wider category of aggregation
- disaggregation approach and is based on the principles of qualitative analysis
regression.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Quality Services, Health Care Sector,
MUSA, Multicriteria Analysis.
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1 Introduction
It is common practice in the context of modern medicine, that increasing emphasis is
given to the patients’ opinion on matters associated with the quality of services as
well as the satisfaction level that derives from them. The quality as well as the
measurement of the satisfaction levels concerning the offered health care is a
powerful evaluation tool for these specific services. The patients, as end users of
health care services contribute with their participation to a qualitative improvement
provided that the data produced is evaluated sufficiently. Specifically, the recording
of patients’ views on health care services combined with results from clinical studies
can provide solid conclusions for the operation of different health organisations and
levels of health care.
During the last decade, an increasing interest in measuring patient satisfaction
levels has been noticed, and is certified by a number of studies that have been
conducted on the health care systems of Britain, France, Sweden and the United
States. The worldwide interest on measuring patient satisfaction levels has been
empowered by the need for evaluation and improvement on the quality of health
services (Bond and Thomas, 1992).
The international context shows new and innovative ways of organizing and
administrating health organizations, the so called managed care. According to Pothos
et al. (2014), “managed care deals with the development of healthcare programs that
integrate into a single organizational structure both funding and providing healthcare
packages”. By this way the quality in the provided health services may be achieved.
Another tool for quality assurance in health is benchmarking, the continuous and
systematic process of comparing an organization’s performance, actions, practices
and policies to the so called best in the world, a managerial process which can be
useful in: (a) organization’s management, (b) costs reduction, (c) business strategy
development, (d) services time reduction and (e) insured individuals’ services
improvement (Pothos et al., 2014).
The concept of patient satisfaction has been presented in the international
bibliography as a reliable index for the evaluation of health policy results; it is
directly linked to the sufficient satisfaction of the general and particular health needs.
In the USA, in 1990, the institute of medicine included patient satisfaction, as an
important part of the outcome of health care, in the definition of the dimensions of
quality. Although patient satisfaction research projects are not easy or simple due to
their nature, they offer multiple benefits. They may contribute to the efforts made for
quality improvement enabling the identification of low quality health care services as
well as an evaluation on a national level that will contribute to the formation of the
appropriate strategy.
The aim of this study is to present an original customer satisfaction survey in the
health care sector and especially in the Greek Red Cross. This paper is organized into
7 sections. Section 2, presents the literature, regarding customer satisfaction, service
quality in the health care sector. In section 3 a short description of Greek Red Cross
is given.
Section 4 presents the MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis) method, which
is the Decision Support System that was used in order to measure the customer
738
satisfaction. Section 5 presents the methodological frame and section 6 the results of
our research. Finally, section 7 the conclusions and limitations are presented along
with managerial and research implications of the study finding.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality
Customer satisfaction, according to Yi (1991), is fixed with two basic ways: “as a
result or, as a process; the first way determines the satisfaction as a final situation or
as a result of experience of consumption or use of product or service”. Customer
satisfaction is central to the marketing concept, with evidence of strategic links
between satisfaction and overall service performance (Truch, 2006).
According to Bartikowski and Llosa (2004) “customer satisfaction is typically
defined as an overall assessment of the performance of various attributes that
constitute a service”. There are lots of definitions for satisfaction. According to Engel
and Blackwell (1982) satisfaction is an evaluation process, which examines whether
this choice is consistent with previous convictions of the client.
Satisfaction is the reaction of consumers in the evaluation process, which
examines the discrepancies between prior expectations and actual performance level
of the product as perceived by the consumer after use (Tse and Wilton, 1988). As
explained by Oliver (1996), Gerson (1993) and Vavra (1997), satisfaction is a
measure of how the total offered product or service fulfills customer expectations.
Over the last two decades, service quality has been an essential strategic
component for firms attempting to succeed and survive in today’s fierce competitive
environment. The main function an organization’s members must perform is the
delivery of quality service to its customers (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Reichheld and
Sasser, 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1988). The most common definition of service
quality, nevertheless, is the traditional notion, in which quality is viewed as the
customer’s perception of service excellence. (Berry et al., 1985).
Service quality is the customers’ attitude or global judgment of a company’s
service over time, while customer satisfaction refers to a specific business transaction
(Lam and Zhang, 1999). Parasuraman et al., (1985) defined ‘‘service quality’’ as the
degree and direction of discrepancy between a customer’s perceptions and
expectations. Parasuraman et al., (1988), in their study with title “A multiple-item
scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality” defined service quality
as “a global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of
the service”.
Based on this concept, Parasuraman et al., (1988, 1991) identified the following
five generic dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) that must be present in the
service delivery in order for it to result in customer satisfaction: Reliability,
Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and Tangibles.
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2.2 Customer Satisfaction & Service Quality in the Health Care Sector
Over the last two decades, one of the fastest growing and competitive industries in
the service sector is the health care industry. (Dey et al., 2006). Buyers of health care
services are better educated and more aware than in the past. They know exactly
what they need. They carefully monitor and study the health care options available to
them. (Wadhwa, 2002). The customer satisfaction in the health care services has
been measured by different researchers under varied environment. The health care
organisation wants to know how satisfied their patients’ are in order to be translated
into organisation strategy and development.
Andaleeb (1998) stated that “hospitals that fail to understand the importance of
delivering customer satisfaction may be inviting possible extinction”. Patients, in
general, receive various services of medical care and judge the quality of services
delivered to them (Choi et al., 2004). Carr-Hill (1992), mentioned seven dimensions
that determine patient satisfaction as follows: access, choice, information, readiness,
safety, value for money and equity. In the health care sector, customer satisfaction
leads to favourable results, such as higher rates of patient retention, positive word of
mouth and higher profits (Peyrot et al., 1993; Zeithaml, 2000).
Hall and Dornan (1998) developed a patient satisfaction method that includes
dimensions such as humanness, informativeness, overall quality, overall technical
competence, beaurocratic procedures, access, cost, physical facilities, continuity,
outcomes, handling of non-medical problems. Hasin et al., (2001), in their study
demonstrated that the health care organisations have a good level of overall service,
there are many areas that need attention to further improve the service.
Aragon et al., (2003) conducted a research in emergency department of hospitals
and suggested the primary provider theory to measure patient satisfaction considering
three latent variables: physician service (SP), waiting time (SWT) and nursing care
(SN). A study conducted by Safavi (2006) has revealed that patient satisfaction
includes dimensions such as dignity and respect, speed and efficiency, comfort,
information and communication and emotional support.
Last years in Greece, there has been an increasing interest from for measuring the
quality and the customer satisfaction in the health care services. Kalogeropoulou
(2011) revealed that the general profile of the hospital is affected by the cleanliness
conditions of stay and quality of the food. Patients require specialized
anthropocentric healthcare services, and demand satisfaction of their basic rights,
such as receiving information, giving consent and respect of their individuality.
Niakas et al., (2004), made a patient satisfaction survey with a self-administered
questionnaire of 1295 adult patients.
This survey show high rates for medical and nursing services and fair rates for
hotel services and facilities. The medical-nursing index (which can range from 0 to
100) shows a mean of 86.4 and the rate for the hotel services was 75.9. Matis et al.,
(2009) developed a patient satisfaction method that includes 5 dimensions: Medical,
hotel facilities, organizational, nursing and global patient satisfaction.
The results reveal a relatively high degree of global satisfaction (75.125%), yet
satisfaction is higher for the medical (89.721%) and nursing (86.432%) services.
Moreover, satisfaction derived from the hotel facilities and the general organization
was found to be more limited (76.536%). In their recent survey, Papagiannopoulou et
740
al., (2008) found that children’s escorts were more satisfied that they had expected to
be. The hospital personnel and specifically the medical and nursing services were
highly rated, improving the general profile of the hospital. Conversely, the children’s
escorts’ satisfaction was negatively affected by the hospital substructure.
Baralexis and Sophianou (2005) mention that public hospitals managers should
realise that in order to confront effectively the increasing competition of private
Greek hospitals, they should first measure the quality of their services in order to
improve their performance. Matis et al., (2010) to another patient satisfaction,
revealed a high degree of global satisfaction (73.31%), yet satisfaction was higher for
the medical (88.88%) and nursing (84.26%) services. Moreover, satisfaction derived
from the accommodation facilities and the general organisation was found to be more
limited (74.17%).
As the number of health care organisations increases, competition in health care
industry becomes tough and service quality becomes an imperative (Ennis &
Harrington, 2001) to provide patient satisfaction and gain competitive advantage in
the market because delivering quality service directly affects the customer
satisfaction.
According Lim and Tang (2000) argue that customer based determinants and
perceptions of service quality play an important role when choosing health care
organisations. Wisniewski and Wisniewski (2005) in their study with title
“Measuring service quality in a hospital colposcopy clinic” mention that service
quality from the patients' perspective should be routinely monitored and assessed. On
the other hand Silvestro (2005) proposes that the development of a tool for
measuring the gap between patients' priorities and their perceptions and the match
between the patient and management perspective.
3 About the Greek Red Cross
The Greek Red Cross was founded on 10 June 1877 following an initiative by
Queen Olga. It was immediately recognised by the International Committee of the
Red Cross and is now a member of the “family” of the International Red Cross and
Red Crescent Movement. During its long history it has remained committed to
international humanitarian principles and voluntary help to fellow human beings.
The Greek Red Cross is the largest non-governmental organisation in Greece, with
a complex mission based on voluntary action and direct response by citizens. Its aim
is to relieve human suffering in time of war and peace, supporting the wounded, the
sick, refugees, the elderly, the poor and people from every vulnerable population
group. Its actions are based on vigilance, solidarity and altruism, and it is
synonymous with disinterested service and selflessness. The basic aims of the Greek
Red Cross are:
! In time of war: the support and reinforcement of the Military Health
Service, provision of medical treatment to the sick and wounded, and the
protection of prisoners of war, the civilian population and war victims.
741
! In time of peace: the provision of relief and assistance to victims of
disasters and epidemics, and humanitarian activities on an individual basis
or in collaboration with the State and social services.
One of the main services offered by the Hellenic Red Cross is "Nursing at Home."
The "Nursing at Home" service is an autonomous nursing care unit, aimed for
patients leaving the hospital and for whom it is considered necessary to continue
treatment at home. The Service has a specialized team of scientists consisting of
Nurses – Health Visitors, doctors and physiotherapists who visit and monitor
patients, supporting them and their families. The relatives are trained and supported
to care for the member in need. This way every patient gets the chance to be treated
in his own space, amongst his relatives and simultaneously contributes to the
decongestion of hospitals and reduction of hospitalization costs.
4 The MUSA Method
The MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis) method of Grigoroudis and
Siskos (Grigoroudis and Siskos, 2002; Siskos and Grigoroudis, 2002) has been
chosen to be used in order to measure customer satisfaction in this research. The
basic principle of MUSA is the aggregation of individual judgements into a
collective value function, assuming that customer’s global satisfaction depends on a
set of criteria representing service characteristic dimensions (Figure 1). The global
satisfaction is denoted as a variable Y and the set of criteria is denoted as a vector Χ
= (Χ1, Χ2,…,Χn). MUSA was chosen over other statistical, econometrical methods
because it gives reliable answers to the following criticism of other methods, namely:
1. Most of the statistical models that are used to analyze consumers’ behavior
cannot deal with qualitative variables, and whenever this happens, the variables
are a priori encoded which results to a loss of the information provided by the
consumer.
2. In several methods strong hypotheses are concerned which is difficult to be
proved. These hypotheses may refer either to consumer behavior or to the
estimation model (e.g. satisfaction assessment using a specific probability
function).
3. Many methods focus mostly on the description of the characteristics which
affect customer’s satisfaction and not on the synthesis of these characteristics to
a global satisfaction index.
4. Finally, several methods need information which is difficult to be collected (e.g.:
customers’ expected utility, tradeoffs, etc)
This preference disaggregation methodology is implemented through an ordinal
regression based approach in the field of multicriteria analysis used for the
assessment of a set of a marginal satisfaction functions in such a way, that the global
satisfaction criterion becomes as consisted as possible with customer’s judgments
(Jacquet-Lagreze and Siskos, 1982; Siskos, and Yannacopoulos, 1985). According
to the survey, each customer is asked to express his/her own judgements, namely
his/her global satisfaction and his/her satisfaction with regard to a set of discrete
criteria, representing characteristics of the provided products and services. Based on
742
these assumptions, the problem is approached as a problem of qualitative regression
and solved via special linear programming formulations where the sum of deviations
between global satisfaction evaluation expressed by customers and the one resulting
from their multicriteria satisfaction evaluations is minimized. The main results from
the aforementioned preference disaggregation approach are focused on global and
partial explanatory analysis.
Global explanatory analysis lays emphasis on customers’ global satisfaction and
its primary dimensions, while partial explanatory analysis focuses on each criterion
and their relevant parameters separately. Satisfaction analysis results, in more detail,
consist of:
! Global satisfaction index: it shows in a range of 0-100% the level of global
satisfaction of the customers; it may be considered as the basic average
performance indicator for the organisation.
! Global demanding index: it shows in a range of -100%-100% the
demanding level of customers according to the following:
• demanding index 100%: extremely demanding customers
• demanding index 0%: "normal" customers
• demanding index -100%: non-demanding customers
! Criteria/sub-criteria satisfaction indices: they show in a range of 0-100% the
level of partial satisfaction of the customers according to the specific
criterion/sub-criterion, similarly to the global satisfaction index.
! Weights of criteria/sub-criteria: they show the relative importance within a
set of criteria or sub-criteria.
! Demanding indices: they show in a range of -100%-100% the demanding
level of customers according to the specific criterion/sub-criterion, similarly
to the global demanding index.
5 Methodology - Criteria Selection
This research process consists of the steps below (Hayes, 1992):
! Preliminary analysis: Customer satisfaction research objectives should be
specified in this stage; preliminary market and customer behavioural analysis
should be conducted in order to assess satisfaction dimensions (customers’
consistent family of criteria).
! Questionnaire design and conducting survey: Using results from the previous
step, this stage refers to the development of the questionnaire, the determination
of survey parameters (sample size, collection data form, etc.) and the survey
conduction.
! Analysis: The implementation of the model is included in this stage providing
several results as described in the previous paragraph. Analysis is performed
into the total set of customers, as well as into distinctive customer segments.
Provided results involve basic descriptive statistical models, as well as the
multicriteria preference disaggregation MUSA model.
743
! Results: Using the results from the analysis stage, final proposals for
organization’s improvement strategy can be formulated; a reliability testing
process for the results of the model is also included in this stage.
The results presented in this paper come from a satisfaction survey. For the
implementation of this survey a structured questionnaire was developed. The items
of the questionnaire are the outcome of a literature review, researchers' visits to the
Greek Red Cross patients’ and a qualitative analysis at the stage of pretesting. The
survey was conducted within the period October – November 2011. Final input data
consist of 305 questionnaires. The main satisfaction criteria for the survey consist of:
! Services: Satisfaction from the Greek Red Cross services.
! Nursing Staff: This criterion measures the satisfaction that a patient gains
when communicating with the nursing staff of Greek Red Cross.
! Patient service: Refers to patient satisfaction from the Greek Red Cross
services
744
Global
Satisfaction
Services Nursing Staff Patient Service
Services Personnel
Politeness & Complaints
Provision Willingness Resolution
Services Personnel Customer Service
Level Knowledge Procedure
Services Immediate
Information Services Speed Informing
Registration
Procedure Personnel Skills Call Center
Problems
Personnel Image Promises
Solving
Services Personnel
Responsiveness Professionalism Best Solutions
Services Personnel
Efficiency Reliability
Responses
Services Quality Completeness
Services Health Data
Expectation Protection
Services Personnel
Instruction Responsiveness
Visits Frequency Personnel
(Nursing Staff) Sufficiency
Fig. 1. Hierarchical structure of Customers Satisfaction Dimensions.
The set of satisfaction criteria in this survey is based on bibliographical research.
Many researchers (Grigoroudis et al., 1999, Tsintarakis et al, 2001, Grigoroudis and
Siskos, 2010, Michelis et al., 2001, Krassadaki et al., 2002, Manolitzas et al., 2010)
introduce questionnaires in order to measure the customer satisfaction in several
different sectors like banks, shipping, airlines, food & drinks, information technology
and the public sector. Each of the 4 criteria above is divided into sub-criteria, which
appear in figure 2.
745
6 Results
6.1 Sample
The sample selected with random sampling and constituted patients of Greek Red
Cross. A total number of 203 answers from patients were collected, which provided
the input data of the analysis. All the information about our sample demographic
characteristics are presented in table 1.
Table 1. Sample Information
Percent (%)
Male 31%
Gender
Female 69%
<24 4%
25-34 7%
Age 35-44 8%
45-54 12%
>55 69%
Illiterate 12%
Primary School 30%
Educational
Lower Secondary School 15%
Level
Upper Secondary School 21%
Graduate 22%
Single 22%
Family Married 13%
Status Married with children 59%
Divorce 6%
No Income 6%
< 300 € 5%
Income 301 - 500 € 12%
Level 501 - 700 € 25%
701 – 900 € 23%
> 900 € 29%
Due to the fact that only 61 of the patients have used the web site of Greek Red
Cross the fourth criterion concerning the satisfaction from the web site has not been
included in the satisfaction analysis process in MUSA method.
6.2 Satisfaction Analysis Results
The results given by MUSA method show that patients seem to be totally satisfied
from the quality of the services that are offered by Greek Red Cross. More
specifically, the average total satisfaction indicator amounts to 99.62% (fig. 2).
Additionally, the concave form of total satisfaction function values in combination
with the size of the estimated demand indicators, which are -64% (fig. 4), indicate
746
that patients are not particularly demanding, which means that they are easily
satisfied even if only a part of their expectations is fulfilled.
Fig. 2. Global & Partial Satisfaction indices
Regarding the patients’ partial satisfaction from the quality of provided services,
the highest satisfaction level is assigned to Nursing Staff (99.48%) and the lowest to
Patient Service (98,89%). The weight of each criterion shows the degree of
importance that given by the total number of tourists in each of the dimensions of
satisfaction. Thus, is determined the level of importance of each criterion in the
formulation of global satisfaction. Fig. 4 shows that the most important criterion is
Services (40%).
Fig. 3. Criteria Weights
Fig. 4 is coming to confirm the initial results regarding the demanding level of
patients on the basis of the form of the global satisfaction function and the degree of
the average total demand index. In particular, patients are less demanding regarding
the Services, which is the criterion with the highest level of importance.
747
Fig. 4. Average demanding indices
MUSA results regarding the basic criteria can also help in the formulation of an
action diagram through the combination of weights of satisfaction criteria with the
average satisfaction indicators. Thus, the strengths and the weaknesses of the
patients’ satisfaction can be determined and also where any improvement efforts
should be focused.
Fig. 5. Action diagram
According to the action diagram (Fig. 5) none of the criteria fall in the action area
(high importance-low performance). This means that there were no important criteria
in which patients are dissatisfied. Furthermore, the criterion of Services falls in the
leverage opportunity area, so this criterion may be considered as the competitive
advantage of Greek Red Cross which should be further improved and promoted.
748
6.3 Correlation between Satisfaction, Demographics and Loyalty
Trying to examine the correlation between the satisfaction, demographics and
loyalty, we investigated the extent to which the patients’ satisfaction level (overall, as
well as partial on the criteria) is related to the personal demographic characteristics
and/or to the loyalty of the patients as this loyalty is expressed in two questions ([i.
willingness to continue the program], [ii. proposing the program to other patients]).
For the evaluation of the aforementioned correlation we chose to use two measures
depending on the nature of the scale of each variable:
! Chi-square test for nominal demographic variables
! Spearman’s correlation coefficient for demographic ordinal and loyalty
variables
The demographic variables which were filled in the questionnaire were: gender,
age, education level, family status and annual income.
Table 2. Chi-square test – Gender and family Status
Criteria X2 df* Significance
Global Satisfaction 0.642 2 0.725
Gender
Services 1.742 2 0.419
Nursing Staff 0.13 1 0.908
Patient Service 1.022 2 0.600
Global Satisfaction 7.525 6 0.275
Family
Status
Services 11.957 6 0.063
Nursing Staff 2.312 3 0.510
Patient Service 8.384 6 0.211
* degrees of freedom
The chi-square (X2) test of two independent samples along with the corresponding
crosstabulations, which was conducted, showed that there is no association between
the Gender or the Family Status and the patients’ satisfaction level (see table 2) with
only one exception: There is an indication that the satisfaction criterion of Services is
related to the Family Status at the level of 6.3% (see table 2). Based on the
corresponding crosstabulations one can conclude that the patients who are married
and have no children appear less satisfied than the rest of the patients as far as the
satisfaction criterion Services is concerned.
From the performed Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis, which was
conducted, it was concluded that the Annual Income is negatively correlated with the
patients’ satisfaction level (see table 3) as far as criterion Patient Service is
concerned. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation is observed between the two
loyalty questions on one side and Global Satisfaction and satisfaction on criterion
Services on the other side. A weaker positive correlation is observed between both
question of loyalty and the satisfaction on criterion Nursing Staff.
749
Table 3. Spearman’s rho
Criteria Spearman's rho Significance
Global Satisfaction -0.097 0.168
Services 0.065 0.355
Age
Nursing Staff 0.095 0.178
Patient Service 0.131 0.062
Global Satisfaction 0.073 0.301
Education level Services 0.015 0.834
Nursing Staff -0.064 0.362
Patient Service -0.091 0.198
Global Satisfaction -0.133 0.059
Services 0.011 0.877
Annual income
Nursing Staff -0.105 0.137
Patient Service -0.154* 0.028
Global Satisfaction 0.936** 0.000
Willingness to
Services 0.195** 0.005
continue the
Nursing Staff 0.171* 0.015
program
Patient Service 0.119 0.092
Global Satisfaction 0.979** 0.000
Proposing the
Services 0.201** 0.004
program to
Nursing Staff 0.172* 0.014
other patients
Patient Service 0.119 0.090
7 Conclusions - Future Research
The presentation of this study is an attempt by researchers to present a
measurement of the satisfaction level of patients treated by the Greek Red Cross and
more specifically by a service called “Nursing at home”. The results reveal a
relatively high degree of global satisfaction. More specifically, the average total
satisfaction indicator amounts to 99.62%. Regarding the patients’ partial satisfaction
from the quality of provided services the highest satisfaction level is assigned to
Nursing Staff (99.48%) and the lowest to Patient Service (98,89%). Furthermore, a
strong positive correlation is observed between the two loyalty questions on one side
and Global Satisfaction and satisfaction on criterion Services on the other side.
A weaker positive correlation is observed between both question of loyalty and
the satisfaction on criterion Nursing Staff. Future research will examine results of
three successive surveys, attempting to evaluate also the relationship between
customer (Patients’) satisfaction and other organizational results. Future research in
the context of the presented study should also focus on satisfaction benchmarking
analysis, given the rapid changes of the socioeconomic conditions. Also, additional
approaches may be combined for the validation of obtained results (e.g. advanced
statistical tools) and the enhancement of the method (e.g. Kano’s model).
750
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