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Journal of Thai Traditional & Alternative Medicine Vol. 11 No. 1 January-April 2013 53

Abstract
Expected and Actual Perceived Service Quality of Patients at Division of Applied
Thai Traditional Medicine, Golden Jubilee Medical Center, Mahidol University
Chosita Kaeoket*
*Golden Jubilee Medical Center, Mahidol University, 999 Borommaratchachonnani Rd., Salaya,
Phutthamonthon, Nakorn-pathom 73170, Thailand
*Corresponding author: chosita.kae@mahidol.ac.th
The objective of this research was to compare the differences between the expectations and
perceptions of patients at the Division of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine (ATTM) of Mahidol
University. A total of 149 patients were randomly selected from ATTM. A questionnaire was
developed based on SERVQUL, with the reliability coefficients on expectation and perception
scales equal to 0.949 and 0.959, respectively. The results were as follows: (1) 70.5 percent of the
patients were female with an average age of 53 years; 83.9 percent had an educational back-
ground of bachelor’s degree or higher; 34.9 percent were government pensioners; 42.3 percent
had an income of 15,000-30,000 baht per month; most of them had 7.83 visits to ATTM for ser-
vices, on average; the majority of their motives were closeness to home and convenience in tra-
velling. The patients’ expectations and perceptions were at a high level. (2) The patients’ percep-
tions were significantly higher than expectations (p = 0.05). (3) There were no differences in the
expectations and perceptions of the patients with different ages, educational background, occu-
pation, monthly income, numbers of visits and motives. The significant differences found were
the perceptions of the patients with different genders (p = 0.05) and the expectations of new and
old patients (p = 0.05). (4) The first three important dimensions of service quality according to
the patients at ATTM were understanding, assurance and responsiveness to quality care.
Keywords: expectation, Quality of service, patients at Division of Applied Thai Traditional Medi-
cine, Golden Jubilee Medical Center, Mahidol University