Satisfaction-based patient classification: Improving the quality of healthcare services

ABSTRACT

Patient satisfaction is crucial for evaluating healthcare quality. However, its potential as a patient classification strategy remains to be explored, leaving healthcare institutions without clear guidance in this regard. This study introduces a comprehensive approach for classifying health service patients based on their satisfaction levels with the aim of enhancing service quality and overall patient experience. The proposed model involved five key steps: questionnaire, data analysis, classification analysis, classification function, action and check. The analytical support for this approach was derived from factor analysis, k-means clustering, and multiple discrimination analysis. In this study, 288 valid responses were collected from medical and dental clinics in Brazil, which comprised a convenience sample. This approach identified four quality factors – interaction, physical environment, service outcome, and waiting time – and two patient groups based on satisfaction levels, highlighting service outcome and waiting time as pivotal factors in patient clustering. This study addressed the challenges of identifying target patient groups and classifying them to enhance satisfaction while maintaining the quality of healthcare services. Future studies could replicate this methodology by incorporating variables that capture client-specific organizational relationships. This will contribute to refining strategies for enhancing service quality and patient satisfaction in diverse healthcare settings.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Health services
• patient satisfaction
• classification
• service quality
• patient experience
• health care management

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful for the financial support received from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil (CNPQ), and the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (FACEPE).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucas Ambrósio Bezerra de Oliveira

Lucas Ambrósio Bezerra de Oliveira is a Professor at the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA/Brazil) and holds a Ph.D. in Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil). His research area focuses on Quality Management and Strategy in Organizations.

André Philippi Gonzaga de Albuquerque

André Philippi Gonzaga de Albuquerque is a Ph.D. in Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil). He holds a Master's degree in production engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil) and graduated in Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil).

Raíssa Souto Maior Corrêa de Carvalho

Raíssa Souto Maior Corrêa de Carvalho is Assistant Professor at Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE/Brazil) and Ph.D. in Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil).

Claudia Editt Tornero Becerra

Claudia Editt Tornero Becerra is a Ph.D. Student in Production Engineering at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil). She holds a Master's Degree in Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil) and graduated in Production Engineering from the Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo (Bolivia).

Denise Dumke de Medeiros

Denise Dumke de Medeiros is Professor at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE/Brazil) and she is PLANASP head-chief. She holds a Ph.D. in Production Engineering by INPGrenoble (France). She was a visiting researcher at Université du Quebec à Trois Rivières (Canada). Her research focus is Quality Management.