CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES IN HOSPITALS Healthcare industry is a wide and intensive form of services which are related to wellbeing of human beings. Health care is the social sector and it is provided at State level with the help of Central Government.
Health care industry covers hospitals, health insurances, medical software, health equipments and pharmacy in it. Right from the time of Ramayana and Mahabharata, health care was there but with time, Health care sector has changed substantially. With improvement in Medical Science and technology it has gone through considerable change and improved a lot.The major inputs of health care industries are as listed below * Hospitals * Medical insurance * Medical software * Health equipment Health care service is the combination of tangible and intangible aspect with the intangible aspect dominating the tangible aspect. In fact it can be said to be completely intangible, in that, the services (consultancy) offered by the doctor are completely intangible. The tangible things could include the bed, the decor, etc.
Efforts made by hospitals to tangiblize the service offering would be discussed in details in the unique characteristics part of the report.CHARACTERISTICS OF HOSPITAL INDUSTRY (HEALTH CARE) 1) Intangibility: Health care services being highly intangible, to beat this intangibility the irony of modern marketing takes place such as use of more tangible features to make things real and believable. Cardiac surgery for example, is intangible. Prior to undergoing such a procedure, a patient cannot see the surgery or examine it, as can be done with the purchase of a computer. Because services are intangible, consumer interactions with the process and individuals who deliver the service are often the bases by which consumers evaluate the actual service itself.
Ways to overcome this drawback: Visualization: The industry has to make available visualization so that, search and experience qualities are crystallized. E. g. Press releases, distribution of brochures and leaflets, newsletters, digital marketing and media campaigning. Physical representations: To overcome these more tangible features such as logos, colours are needed to be used.
E. g. Apollo hospital logo – A lady with a torch Documentation: Quality assurance certificates by service institutions and publishing of annual reports, balance sheets, publishing of customer satisfaction index and ranking numerations. ) Inconsistency: Quality of service offered differs from one extreme to another. This is because of total dependence on human interactivity or playing human nature, i. e.
because human beings can never mechanize or replicate themselves. Ways to overcome this drawback: Training: A scheduled Training of the employees in respect of the work/service can prove to be the best solution to this drawback. E. g. American Medical Association makes it mandatory for its member doctors to undergo 6 weeks of training every year or 6 month of training every 6 years.
Automation: The service providers analyze that, human quality deteriorates with repetition of work; this has an ill effect during the final delivery of the service. E. g. Automatic blood testing equipments ensuring safety and accuracy 3) Inseparability: Service transaction becomes unique because it mandates, during transaction, the physical presence of the provider and the consumer. Services cannot be separated from the individuals who deliver them. For example the characteristic in health care settings is known as the “bedside manner” of the physician.
Ways to overcome this drawback: Training: This is the best way out for the setback. As the provider of one service cannot be made available at two different places at the same time if the situation demands so, unlike, in the case of products where the producer of the same need not be present at all times where the transaction takes place. E. g. Wockhardt & Duncans Gleneagles International as set up a dedicated teaching centre for paramedics, particularly, nurses and also provide higher-end courses for doctors.
) Perishability: Services are intangible, they cannot be packed & neither can be stored nor can they be inventoried. The implication is that the service has to be produced and consumed instantly; there is no scope of storage. Ways to overcome this drawback: Managing demand & supply: That is to say that, there has to be provision for all sorts of stipulations at all times to the greatest possible extent. E. g. Service developments according to market needs.
HOSPITALITY SERVICE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT By, Krithiga. M, 2010234004.
