Abstract
BACKGROUND: Service quality improvement efforts must focus on the utilisation of resources for continuous quality improvement. The importance-performance analysis (IPA) method is useful in finding service quality items that require corrective action. This study implemented the IPA method to obtain items that should be prioritised in improving the quality of a hospital's clinical forensic services. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 284 clinical forensic patients at Bhayangkara Hospital, Pekanbaru, Indonesia was conducted. Self-administered and paper-based questionnaires, specifically the modified service quality (SERVQUAL)-based questionnaire, were used as the study instruments. Twenty-two service quality items were used as indicators and they were divided into five dimensions of service quality: i) reliability, ii) responsiveness, iii) assurance, iv) empathy and v) tangibility. The data were analysed using the IPA method. RESULTS: The results showed that only seven items had a gap and a level of conformity that met the expectations of clinical forensic patients. Improvements in service quality should prioritise four items: i) providing a more private examination room for clinical forensic patients, ii) improving healthcare workers' understanding of patient needs, iii) improving the readiness of healthcare workers to conduct examinations and iv) enhancing the clarity of information about examination procedures. CONCLUSION: The IPA method yielded several high-priority items that need to be improved; therefore, the hospital must focus on improving the quality of clinical forensic services.