QUALITY OF SERVICE AS PERCEIVED BY CLIENTS AT THE OUT-PATIENT DEPARTMENT, NUAKLONG HOSPITAL, KRABI PROVINCE

Abstract

The purposes of this descriptive research were: 1) to study the level of quality of service as perceived by clients at the out-patient department, Nuaklong hospital, Krabi province. 2) to compare quality of service as perceived by clients in terms of sex, age, educational level, and income, and 3) to compare the quality of service as perceived by clients in terms of number of visits and period of time for travelling to be serviced. The sample included 280 persons and was selected by systematic random sampling at the out-patient department, Nuaklong hospital. The research instrument was quality of service content questionnaire. The validity was verified by five experts, and was .93. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was .89. Data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA.

The study revealed as follows. 1) The clients rated overall quality of service at the out-patient department, Nuakhlong hospital, Krabi province at the high level. 2) There was significantly difference in assessment of quality of service depending on age (p<.05), whereas, there was no significantly differences in terms of gender, educational level, and income (p<.05). Finally, 3) there was no significant differences in terms of number of visits and period of time for travelling to be serviced (p<.05).