World Health Organization (WHO) identified quality as crucial element in its framework for health system strengthening. Quality serves as a mediator between the six system building blocks (leadership, health care financing, health workforce, service delivery, information and medical products) and health outcomes. As such, enhancing quality of each building block could lead to improved health outcomes and efficiency.
Several quality improvement (QI) approaches have been widely employed to strengthen the health systems globally. Decision making based on evidence is one of the important QI principles used by many QI models and frameworks such as the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Baldrige Framework, etc. In order to make more informed decisions, it is necessary to have information about key processes, outputs, outcomes and results. Evidence is one key theme in managing health care quality. The adoption of evidence based practices in health care not only promote high standard of care but also increase client interest in quality of care. This will lead to continuous improvement of overall health system (Sax, 2014).
In recent years, the results of many QI projects in developing countries are achieving widespread attention. Noticeable progress in quality could convince donors and governments that their resource are used efficiently and encourage further investment in health care (Leatherman et al., 2010). Thus, there has been growing interest on quality of these QI project results since policy makers, hospital leaders and clinicians make important decisions based on these information. Data Quality Audit (DQA) is one of the initiatives established...
... middle of paper ...
...e clinics, community health centers and hospitals in three districts of the province.
It is important to track every sequential steps of diagnostic and treatment services of PMTCT program. Effective monitoring could indicate the performance of the program in identifying HIV infected mothers and providing correct treatment. In South Africa, like many developing countries, health data collecting and reporting system was often stated unreliable (Garrib et al., 2008). As such, the PMTCT program introduced an intervention to improve the completeness and accuracy of the routine data collected in the DHIS.
The flow of data begins at the service delivery points and the staffs at each primary care facilities combine these data monthly on paper and report to clinic supervisor. The data are transferred to electronic format by an information officer within the facility.
If patients constantly have to wait an excessive amount of time they will either leave before they receive care or could end up becoming sicker as a result. Donabedian’s three-element model structure, process and outcome have become the gold standard for defining quality measurement (Varkey, 2010). Structure relates to the health care setting, which includes the hospital policies, procedures and design. Process evaluates if the right actions were taken for an intended outcome and how well the actions were executed to achieve the outcome. Outcome focuses on the patient, it measures the patient’s condition, behavior, and response to or satisfaction with care (Varkey, 2010). Although each of these measures focus on different areas, they indicate areas that need improvement. Also, the measurement from structure and process plays an important role in the patient’s outcome. If the hospital has the right staff, equipment and
Margaret E. O’Kane is the founder and president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). NCQA is one of the nation’s leading advocates for improving healthcare through measurement, reporting, and accountability. NCQA is the foremost accrediting organization for health plans including HMOs, PPOs, and consumer directed plans. (Margaret) “Our goal is to increase the value of NCQA accreditation both to organizations pursuing accreditation and to the audiences who seek help in assessing the quality of health care provided by those organizations”. NCQA has developed, maintained, and expanded the nation’s most widely used health care quality tool, which is known as the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). HEDIS is responsible for evaluating whether and how well
The model chosen for this project is the Model for Evidence-Based Practice Change. The model consists of important guidelines tools in Evidence-based practice (EBP) that can reduce healthcare variation and improve patient outcomes (Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher‐Ford, L., Long, L. E., & Fineout‐Overholt, E., 2014). Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving method to the delivery of health care as it combines the best evidence from well-design studies and evidence-based theories with expertise of the clinician and a patient’s preferences, values to make the best clinical decisions (Melnyk, B. M., et al. 2014). The model consists of seven steps of
Lovaglio, P.G. (2011, November 29). Benchmarking strategies for measuring the quality of healthcare: Problems and prospects. The Scientific World Journal, 2012, 2-3. doi:10.1100/2012/606154
Nembhard, I. M., Alexander, J. A., Hoff, T. J., & Ramanujam, R. (2009). Why Does the Quality of Health Care Continue to Lag? Insights from Management Research. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 23 (1), 24-42. doi: 10.5465/AMP.2009.37008001
Quality care, safe practices and principles, and accountability constitute the foundation of any health care organization (Huber, 2014). Addressing patient safety issues and improving health care quality may include reorganizing operations to improve efficiency, coordinating care with interdisciplinary team members, and using information technologies (Wang, Cha, Sebek, McCullough, Parsons, Singer, & Shih, 2014). In this paper, I will review my organization’s quality program goals, objectives, and management structure, how quality improvement (QI) projects are selected, managed, and monitored, and how nursing staff are trained and supported in
Maintenance and promotion of quality improvement initiatives are essential for the successful growth and development of the health care industry. Nurses are key to all quality improvement initiatives as they are in the frontlines and have the most contact with the healthcare consumers. Therefore, nursing professionals are good at putting in their valuable inputs for quality improvement efforts. On a daily basis nursing professionals strive to deliver safe, efficient, effective, patient-centered care in a timely manner. With the growth and development in the health care industry, there is an increased need to provide competent and high quality services. Nurses are equipped with distinctive proficiency required for delivery of patient care
Thus, it is imperative that evidence-based practice is conducted to provide the best current, valid and reliable evidence in an aim to close the gap between non-conformity and coincide with the professional obligation of providing the patient with the best possible care (Liamputtong, 2013).... ... middle of paper ... ... Patient safety and quality of care. Rockville, MD: Agency For Healthcare Research And Quality, U.S. Dept. of Health.
In the past, health care managers tended to focus on cost and quality, thus “doing things right” and leaving “doing the right things” to other forces and chance. This situation is rapidly changing and everyone involved in decision making must use evidence to enable them to make decisions about “doing the right things.” These skills are necessary for provision of health care in the 21st century .
Many questions arise when talking of TQM in healthcare, the biggest question being that is TQM making work in the healthcare world? You don’t realize how much work TQM really is, but training the staff and getting the right people doing the job is a difficult process. Not only is this a process for the suppliers, but for the “buyers” too. If you think about it, quality is different in every setting so there is no basis for what TQM would go off of. The different healthcare agencies would have to come up with all of this and make sure there is a system that keeps the agency in check as well.
To achieve the goal of health care safety by providing quality services throughout their leadership role. Quality management provides a specific framework to consider the successful implementation of the risk management and improve the programs where participation is needed to share experiences. The governing body demonstrates that commitment of all stakeholders to sufficient management resources for effective mitigation. Quality of system increases patient satisfaction and will help people and employees to achieve the target goals. When an organization plans to increase needs and considers the improvement of quality, it will perceive the needs of patients.
Understanding quality measurement is essential in improving quality. Teams need to be able to understand whether the changes being made are actually leading to improved care and improved outcomes. For data to have an impact on an improvement initiative, providers and staff must understand it, trust it, and use it. Health care organization must understand the measurement of quality provided by the Institute of Medicine (patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, compliance, efficiency, safe, timely, patient centered, and equitable. An organization cannot improve its performance if it does not know how it is performing. Measuring quality improvements is essential as it reflects the quality of care given by the providers and that by comparing performance
The importance of Evidence-Based Practice is to ensure the best possible care is provided for patients. Evidence-Based Practice functions by measuring the effectiveness of a treatment and differentiating findings between high-quality and low-quality. It also helps with health development and improves the reliability and facilitates students to become reflecti...
William, R. (2009, August). Improving quality and value in the u.s. health care system. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2009/08/21-bpc-qualityreport
TQM is essential to be used by all the companies especially the manufacturing companies who have the responsibility to ensure about the quality of the product. TQM is being viewed as the boon and it is an approach for improving the quality and customer satisfaction in the long run and also reduces the amount of waste (www.businessknowledgesource.com). There are various components which have to be addressed in implementing the TQM they are Ethics, integrity, training, trust, teamwork, communication and recognition (www.businessknowledgesource.com).