Medical Service Quality
Donabedian (1988) argued that the quality of medical services provided by hospitals is determined by medical institutions after considering patients’ health and the institutional decision-makers’ responsibilities to maintain patients’ health and provide effective care. Medical care comprises two aspects: medical technology and patient–medical personnel relationships and interactions (Donabedian, 1979). Quality management must account for the expected profits and risks of the provided medical care, which must be legal, meet patients’ expectations, and conform to social and professional standards.
According to Mosadeghrad (2012), health care quality covers the aspects of a clean and tidy environment, patient safety, efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, empathy, medical services, medical technology, care resources, services provided by the medical institution to the patient, and the professional image of the medical institution. Chilgren (2008) maintained that medical service quality entails patient satisfaction management and that efforts made by medical institutions to elevate medical service quality are the key to their success, as well as the core value facilitating their outstanding performance. Favorable medical service quality is achieved only when each interaction with patients is favorable. Mosadeghrad (2013a) found that medical services should follow clinical guidelines and standards to provide effective care, efficiently achieve patient satisfaction, meet patient needs, and facilitate patient well-being. In this study, medical service quality was treated as the basic drive supervisors and medical personnel involved with medical decisions to promote age-friendly medical care.