Identifying Indicators Affecting the Evaluation of Service Quality of Medical Centers’ Online Appointment Systems

Online queuing systems in medical centers significantly reduce waiting time and costs, and increase patient satisfaction with the quality of services provided. Service provisions with the desired quality through these systems will manage the crowds in the health care centers. In the current situation, gatherings cause an upward trend of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent problems for the clients. Therefore, identifying the indicators affecting the evaluation of service quality of queuing systems is essential and can be effective in improving medical services.

The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose, and a descriptive-analytical survey study in terms of data collection. Fifteen individuals living in Yazd city, including university professors, experts of medical centers, and users familiar with online appointment systems, formed the statistical population. In this study, in order to collect data, three types of questionnaires were distributed among experts.

The results of the study with the combined approach of AHP and fuzzy DEMATEL indicated that accuracy of appointment time and information, level of experience of site planners, the possibility of cancellation of booked appointments, and reliability of the system are the influential indicators.

Identifying the effective indicators of the online queuing system has played a very effective role in increasing the level of information exchange, reducing costs, especially during the corona outbreak, improving the quality of services provided by medical centers, and accordingly increasing patient satisfaction. The mentioned features have led to a significant increase in the use of online queuing systems in health care centers in recent years.