Brazil and U.S. Nursing Service Quality

ASSESSING NURSING SERVICE QUALITY: A CROSSCULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES

The development and maintenance of output quality within any field of endeavor involves elements of philosophy, economics, operations, management, and marketing. Each of these ares of interest is applicable to the development and maintenance of output quality within the hospital environment; however, as service providers, the development and maintenance of hospital output quality must place an especially heavy emphasis on the marketing factor. This research describes a a research proposal for the performance of a crosscultural assessment of nursing service quality in hospital settings in Brazil and the United States.

The standards of health care are generally high throughout the United States. Within a newly industrialized country such as Brazil, however, health care standards tend to be uneven across geographical sectors, within the urbanrural dichotomy, and in relation to personal income levels. The health care needs and the desires of patients for caring and highquality care tend to be similar, however, regardless of the extend of industrialization, and regardless of internal divisions with a specific country.

Quality, however, is a highly personalized concept and perception when applied to health care services. Differences in expectations lead to differences in the perceived level of quality in health care services delivere

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Category: Medical - B