Abstract

LOSADA OTALORA, Mauricio  and  RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA, Augusto. Health service quality: a literature review from a marketing perspective. Cuad. Adm. [online]. 2007, vol.20, n.34, pp.237-258. ISSN 0120-3592.

This article examines different theoretical and empirical research papers on service quality and on measuring it locally and worldwide in the health sector, which have been reported in specialized publications since the early 1990s. Findings make the lack of consensus in defining and determining the dimensions that make up quality in health services evident and such dimensions are necessary for developing reliable measurement instruments that enable offering users better quality. To that regard, in Colombia diverse methodologies for measuring and evaluating the quality of health services have been tried out. SERVQUAL is the most used instrument for such purpose worldwide; notwithstanding, after applying it in Colombia, the results obtained did not allow any generalizations. That situation reveals the need to conduct research using other theoretical models, such as SERVPERF or the multidimensional hierarchical approach, which enable the development of valid, appropriate measurement scales for the local context.

Keywords : Services; service quality; service quality dimensions; SERVQUAL; health service quality.

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