Impact of waiting on the perception of service quality in nuclear medicine.

Background: This is the first study examining the link between waiting and various dimensions of perceived service quality in nuclear medicine.

Methods: We tested the impact of selected waiting experience variables on the evaluation of service quality, measured using the Servqual tool, of 406 patients in nuclear medicine, with objective and subjective waiting times as co-variates. The sequence of events in service delivery in nuclear medicine (waiting time before injection, waiting time before scanning and total waiting time) is taken into account.

The dilemma of being a physician-patient.

Being either a physician or a relative to a physician on the occasion of having a disease needing help from another physician, the physician-patient situation, can trigger some problems which are different from the normal doctor-patient relationship. Some aspects of this are an incorrect diagnostic approach (either hyper- or hypo-diagnostics) and an inadequate therapeutic regimen. Others are mainly based on the peer situation of the two parties involved.

Patients' and personnel's perceptions of service quality and patient satisfaction in nuclear medicine.

Patients' and personnel's perceptions of service quality were analysed to position nuclear medicine organisations in the service triangle theory of Haywood-Farmer [ Int J Production and Operations Management 1988; 6:19-29]. After distinguishing the service quality dimensions of nuclear medicine, a comparison was made between the service quality perceptions of patients ( n=259) and those of personnel ( n=24). We examined the importance of different service quality dimensions by studying their relationship to patient satisfaction.