A Hybrid GDM-SERVQUAL-QFD Approach for Service Quality Assessment in Hospitals

Quality is one of the most critical factors in health systems. To improve service quality in hospitals, we propose a hybrid approach incorporating Group decision-making (GDM), Service Quality measurement (SERVQUAL), and Quality function deployment (QFD). QFD is used to translate patient needs into quality characteristics (derived from SERVQUAL), while taking into account interrelationships between design requirements and quality characteristics. One of the most important steps in the QFD process is to prioritize quality characteristics from the patients' viewpoint, which is inherently affected by two types of uncertainties: human mental perception and patient heterogeneity. In this research, a novel two-stage GDM approach is employed to cope with these uncertainties in an integrated manner. Furthermore, the proposed methodology is applied in a public hospital to effectively enhance quality characteristics, which will be considered in the QFD. Accordingly, the proposed methodology provides a framework for engineering professionals and managers in hospitals to assess and manage quality characteristics.