Performance Improvement in Health

Performance Improvement in Health

Introduction

Most of the governments usually prefer to bring changes in organisational and financial areas of the health care system. They introduce different health care reforms in order to implement desired changes. However, it is also a fact that improvement in health care organisations is only possible and gives result when performance of its people, such as Nurses, is managed and taken as a serious agenda (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2012). No doubt, Performance Management in Nursing has a significant role in making the health care system robust and more flexible for not only nursing staff but also for the patients. However, the area of performance management has received a slight attention of government and other stakeholders in the health care system (Parkin, 2009). In fact, the health system is characterised by great diversity and complexity in its structures in relation to legal, financial, human resource, quality and services basis. Everyone would agree that most of the health institutions aim to improve the quality of its nursing staff for a better care and prevention of diseases in general public (Moseley, 2008).

However, it is also essential to know that every health care system must meet the needs of patients while being efficient in terms of costs and equal access to care. This can be achieved if a health care organisation adopts a mechanism to manage performance of Nurses related to different methods of treatment (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2012). In fact, the rights of patients in hospital are enshrined in the Charter of hospitalised patients, discount on admission, which guarantees the right to access to health care without discrimination. In addition, it would not be wrong to say that performance measurement provides policymakers an ideal opportunity to ensure improved system of health and make them more accountable for further betterment (Parkin, 2009).

Thesis Statement

This paper aims to discuss the role of Performance Management of Nurses as an effective method to improve the performance of people, procedures and routines within the context of nursing in a health care system. The area chosen for this study is nursing.

Discussion

Healthcare organisations in Australia are now recognising the value of Performance Management in Nursing that is as necessary as any other area of health care system like surgery, cardiology, transplantation, blood transfusion, etc. It has been seen in recent years that many governments around the world have vastly undertook initiatives for policy implementation in order to reform their health systems (Moseley, 2008). In fact, these reforms often focus on ways to improve access, equity, quality, efficiency and sustainability services in a health care system. Most of these initiatives include discussions about roles of public and private sector, the goals of the health system, and public health services. During the development of different health care reforms, many problems have been identified that affect the performance of the health staff (Parkin, 2009). In addition, these problems cause poor health strategies and services as well as inadequate techniques for designing and implementing ...