Quality Gap in Educational Services at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences: Students Viewpoints about Current and Optimal Condition

Introduction. The first basic step in developing any quality improvement program is determining the quality gap and, adopting strategies for removing or reducing this gap. This study was performed to determine the quality gap in educational services at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, based on students’ perceptions and expectations. Methods. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 386 students selected by stratified random sampling method, were studied in the year 2004. A questionnaire which measured the quality gap in 5 dimensions of service, and proved to be valid and reliable, was used for data collection. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, Willcoxon and Friedman tests were applied using SPSS software. Results. According to the majority of students (81.6%) there was an overall negative quality gap in educational services. The smallest gap with the mean and standard deviation of -1.10 0.99 belonged to "reliability" dimension and the largest gap with the mean and standard deviation of -1.73 1.04 to "responsiveness". There was a significant difference in quality gap between five dimensions. Conclusion. A negative quality gap in five dimensions of services was observed. It is recommended that workshops on customer serving, communication skills and personnel’s technical skills development be held. Also, allocating more resources for improving educational facilities and physical environment is suggested.