HEALTHCARE SECTOR SERVICE QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Managing Service Quality In The Healthcare Sector

Managing service quality in the healthcare sector in India

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to highlight key dimensions of provider-perceived total quality management (TQM) in the healthcare sector in India and at the International Level and at the International Level. Further, the impact of the dimensions of provider perceived TQM on hospital performance is examined.

Managing service quality in the healthcare sector in India and at the International Level

Since the advent of liberalization and globalization, companies across the globe have been forced to improve the quality of the products and services they offer. A widely used technique of quality improvement is TQM. The present study is an attempt to identify and highlight the critical dimensions of health-care quality. Based on a thorough review of literature on the empirical, theoretical and practitioner studies on health care, the various dimensions of TQM in hospitals from the viewpoint of the provider of care, have been identified. The providers of care considered in this study include doctors, nurses, paramedical and support staff (administrative and clinical) across different levels in the hospital Indian and at the International Level and at the International Level organization.

Several studies have described quality in health care, while emphasizing the importance of implementing TQM in health care. Ovretveit (1997) explained quality in health services as fully meeting the needs of those who need the service most, at the lowest cost to the Indian and at the International Level organization, within limits and directives set by higher authorities and purchasers. In a related study, Ovretveit (2000) emphasized the main lessons of introducing TQM in health care such as quality leadership, resistance and opposition, variety of experiences, involvement of doctors, special training for doctors, training facilitators, selecting strategically significant quality projects and managing them for results, measuring quality, covering all services, and invoking the soul and spirit of quality with emphasis on professional values.

The role of the top management is critical to the success of any TQM initiative. Several studies have stated that since techniques such as successful continuous quality improvement (CQI) implementation may require a sustained effort over several years, organizational members depend on the leadership of the CEO and senior management to understand and interpret the relevant environmental pressures, and to position CQI within the overall hospital strategy (Satia and Maj-Britt, 1999). In the healthcare context, the hospital CEO leads the change effort required for the success of the quality initiative. Tabish (1998) found that management and leadership in health care involved an individual's efforts provide professional care, devise creative strategies, cost-controlled programs, along with the abilities to research and analyze systems critically and chart growth in response to rapid health care changes. Lighter (2000) focused on the growing trend of physicians in the business of health care, owing to their breadth of experience with patients, institutions, insurers and peers. In another study on leadership, LeBrasseur et al. (2002) found that a CEO committed to implementing CQI as a transformational leader led ...