Gap Analysis of Health Services

here is a saying "The customer is God" (Youngblood, 1994).However, few occupational health services focus on client satisfaction.Traditionally, the emphasis has been on evaluating the quality of care provided, believing the client's knowledge of expert care is limited (Belk, 1990;Parillo, 1993;Walters, 1995).However, with the increased level of client knowledge about health care and an increasing awareness of consumerism, occupational health services need to pay attention to client satisfaction.Client satisfaction can be defined as client awareness of care received in a timely fashion and of the many variables in the environment contributing to recovery (Sullivan, 1988).Successful companies know that client focus is essential.By knowing clients' expectations, they are able to formulate their fundamental business structure.In addition, client focused companies recognize that client perceptions stem from every contact with the company.For this reason, it is important to determine the degree of harmony between client expectations and the service quality providers believe they are delivering.This article defines service quality, identifies the causes of service quality problems, and outlines what measures occupational health nurses take, with the assistance of a specially designed instrument, to solve these problems while improving client care services.