Development of Service Competency Training Curriculum for Healthcare Providers in Thailand’s Medical Service Hub: a Needs Assessment Study
Keywords:
service competency, medical hub, healthcare providers, needs assessment, curriculum development, cross-cultural communication, professional development, healthcare service qualityAbstract
Thailand’s vision to become an international medical hub necessitates healthcare providers with advanced service competencies. However, systematic assessment of service competency development needs among healthcare providers has been limited. This study aimed to assess the current and desired service competency levels of doctors and nurses in private hospitals to develop training curricula supporting Thailand’s medical hub policy. Needs assessment research employing the discrepancy model was conducted across 48 JCI-accredited private hospitals in Thailand. The study utilized stratified random sampling with hospitals as strata. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire assessing three competency domains: knowledge, skills, and attributes. Priority Needs Index (PNI) was calculated to identify critical development areas. The study achieved response rates of 91.4% (243) for doctors and exceeded the target sample size for nurses (287). Cross-cultural communication emerged as the highest development priority, particularly for nurses (PNI=0.21). Doctors showed highest development needs in complaint handling (PNI=0.18), problem management (PNI=0.17), and cross-cultural communication (PNI=0.17). Nurses demonstrated significant needs in language appropriateness (PNI=0.18) and managing non-standard situations (PNI=0.17). Both groups required development in quick service delivery (PNI=0.15) and service value addition. Knowledge domain analysis revealed priorities in service quality consistency for doctors (PNI=0.14) and quality factors for nurses (PNI=0.15). The findings revealed distinct patterns of competency development needs between doctors and nurses while highlighting shared priorities in cross-cultural communication and service delivery speed. These results provide empirical evidence for developing role-specific service competency training curricula while maintaining focus on shared service quality standards. The study suggests priority areas for competency development supporting Thailand’s medical hub policy implementation
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