Measuring supply chain performance among public hospital laboratories

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficiency levels of the decision-making units within the public hospital laboratories in using their supply chain towards meeting the satisfaction of doctors. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from two senior laboratory administrators and 30 doctors of two hospital laboratories in Malaysia using two sets of structured questionnaires, which comprised of two dimensions, i.e. doctor satisfaction dimension (DSD) and supply chain inputs (SCI). The dimensions of DSD and SCI were developed and that SCI has been relabeled as hospital laboratory inputs (HLI) to suit the nature of current study. The resulting data were positioned on an importance-performance matrix. By using the data envelopment analysis software, the efficient frontier for both hospital laboratories was calculated under different scenarios. Findings – Results reveal that one of the laboratories satisfies doctors efficiently using the present levels of HLI for each scenario while the other failed. Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses only on two hospital laboratories. Practical implications – The findings offer insights on the important dimensions of DSD and HLI that the hospital laboratories should concentrate on when measuring doctor satisfaction through the utilization of resources they possess. This will undoubtedly lead to better hospital-doctor-patient relationships. Originality/value – Many prior supply chain studies have focused on patient satisfaction. This paper is probably one of the first attempts that comprehensively examines satisfaction from the perspective of doctors.