Fatemeh Azadi - Health Services Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Saeid Reza Azami - Health Services Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mahsa Ghaziasgar - Health Services Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohsen Pakdaman - Health Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Introduction: According to the principle 29 the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran, receiving social security and health care is a public right, Access to a variety of safe and healthy food is a basic human right. Food services and proper nutritional care in hospitals have beneficial effects on the patients’ improvement and the quality of their lives. Customer satisfaction should be a main goal of any organization because the customer satisfaction increases health promotion. The gap analysis model is one of models used for the assessment of the quality of provided services by service organizations. This model can be applied in all service organizations in order to assess the quality of provided services. This study aims to investigate the quality of food services through various methods of preparing, cooking and distributing food in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012. As there are three methods of delegating food service in 5 hospitals affiliated to Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences, the valid questionnaire (Servqual) is used to gather data and measure the quality of food services. The reliability was assessed through needed tests using the test-retest method and Cronbach's alpha (0.84). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 17 software. Results: From the patients’ viewpoint, the biggest gap regarding the quality of food services has been associated with the outsourcing method while the smallest gap regarding the quality has been related to insourcing method. From the employees’ viewpoint, the biggest quality gap has been associated with the outsourcing method while the smallest quality gap has been related to the insourcing method. Conclusion: According to the patients’ and employees’ viewpoint, the highest quality of food department services, based on the five dimensions of the Servqual model, is attributed to the insourcing method while the lowest quality of food department services based on the five dimensions of the Servqual model is associated with the outsourcing method. The satisfaction level of patients and employees with food department services in hospitals in which raw material is prepared through insourcing method by the hospital and cooking and distribution of food are of the responsibility of the contractor is better than that of the outsourcing method.

Preparation, Cooking, Distribution, Hospital, Servqual Model