의료서비스 품질지각이 만족도에 미치는 영향: 중국인의 성형수술 의료관광을 중심으로

Purpose: This study was to investigate the effects of quality perception of medical service on its satisfaction among the Chinese medical tourists for plastic surgery. It was also expected that satisfaction would have positive effects on revisit and recommendation intentions.
Methods: The participants responded to SERVQUAL adjusted for medical service and additional questions asking characteristics of demographics and medical tourism.
Results: First, paired t-tests were carried out for the means of expectation and perceived quality of five factors of medical service and the results showed that all the differences were significant. The participants’expectations were not met by perceived quality and the difference was the biggest for the empathy factor. Secondly, structural equation modeling was carried out to examine the relationships among medical service quality, satisfaction, revisit intention, and recommendation intention. The results showed that all the paths were significant and the responsiveness factor had the largest effect on satisfaction.
Conclusion: The results suggest that subjective aspects such as empathy and responsiveness are more important in determining medical service quality than objective aspects of medical service. In medical tourism, most patients communicate with medical faculty through translators. Therefore, education on empathetic and responsive translation is in need.