An examination of hospital satisfaction with blood suppliers.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict overall hospital satisfaction with blood suppliers.


METHODS
The data for this study came from a 2001 satisfaction survey of hospital blood bank managers conducted by the National Blood Data Resource Center. A total of 1325 blood-utilizing hospitals were included in the final study database. The measurement of hospital satisfaction with its blood supplier encompasses the five composites of the SERVQUAL model. The five composites are 1) tangibles, 2) reliability, 3) responsiveness, 4) assurance, and 5) empathy. Linear regression was performed with overall hospital satisfaction as the dependent variable and the five composites of the SERVQUAL model and control variables as predictors of overall hospital satisfaction with blood suppliers.


RESULTS
Significant predictors of hospital satisfaction with blood suppliers are satisfaction with medical and clinical support provided by the blood center, satisfaction with the routine delivery schedule, and price (service fee) of red cells.


CONCLUSIONS
Prior studies have demonstrated the importance of customer satisfaction to organizations. As organizations, blood centers can benefit from improved satisfaction from their hospital customers. Blood center strategies that focus on improving these three predictors of overall hospital satisfaction with primary blood suppliers will be the most likely to improve and/or maintain hospital customer satisfaction with primary blood suppliers.
Carden
Robert
R
Virginia Blood Services, Richmond 23233, USA. Rcarden@vablood.org
DelliFraine
Jami L
JL
D001771:Blood Banks / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006761:Hospitals; D016014:Linear Models; D011786:Quality Control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires