Evaluation of clients’ expectations and perception gap regarding the quality of primary healthcare service in healthcare centers of Gorgan

Introduction:As human societies advance, health systems will encounter new needs to satisfy. Considering the fact that clients compare quality of service with their expectations, we conducted the present study to evaluate the gap between clients’ expectations and perceptions of quality of primary healthcare service.Material and Methods:In an analytical study, we evaluated 225 healthcare recipients in healthcare centers of Gorgan through random stratified sampling. We used SERVQUAL questionnaire to assess expectations and perceptions of quality of healthcare service in five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon’s test on SPSS software.Results:The clients were aged 14-57 years, with 89.7% of them females. There was significant gap between clients’ expectations and perceptions of quality of services. The largest gap was found in the dimensions of reliability and empathy (-1.47) and the smallest was found in the dimension of tangibles (-1.11). We found significant discrepancies between clients’ expectations and perceptions in all five dimensions. Among 22 statements of the questionnaire, the largest and smallest gaps pertained to the staff’s belief in efficiency of services and staff’s appearance, respectively.Conclusion:We found considerable gaps in all dimensions. Considering the limitations in resources and equipment, identifying clients’ expectations and perceptions will help managers to improve the quality of their services through modification of organizational processes.