Quality Management in Healthcare Setups

Abstract

Hospitals are sensitive institutes where patients are admitted and doctors try their best to save their lives. This paper discusses the importance of quality in a healthcare setup and how it contributes towards better treatment and overall efficiency. Quality is a very vague word which cannot be defined in simple terms. The reason is that quality is somewhat restricted to a person's perception and belief. What may be of high quality to one person may be considered useless by another person. This is why there are certain standards set by the government and regulatory bodies that define the quality of a healthcare institute. The ultimate goal of quality check is to ensure the best medical treatment for patients.

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction1

Quality2

Quality Management2

Quality Control3

Principles of quality management4

Leadership4

Involvement of people5

Systematic approach5

Process approach5

Mutually beneficial relationships5

Factual approach to decision making5

Significance in healthcare management6

Quality Measurement6

Functions of a quality management unit/department within a healthcare organization7

Relationship to units where direct patient care is delivered8

Empirical quality measures which directly impact reimbursements8

Ideal quality management9

Conclusion9

References10

Quality Management in Healthcare Setups

Introduction

As the world emerges from outdated concepts towards newer theories and perceptions, businesses find it hard to please their customers with the products that were previously in much demand. Products that were considered of high value some time ago have now become obsolete. Some of them have been completely discarded whereas others now have substitute products with much better performance and results. The products that have managed to sustain themselves from the time they were created till today are doing it because of one and only one reason: quality. Quality means the level of finesse that goes into a product's manufacture and the perceived benefits that exist in the mind of the user. Quality is a very vague word which cannot be defined in simple terms. The reason is that quality is somewhat restricted to a person's perception and belief. What may be of high quality to one person may be considered useless by another person.

When it comes to the business world, the regulatory authorities of the world united together to develop certain criteria that would be used to asses a product in terms of quality and till today, these standards are used as a benchmark against which the quality of any given product or service may be evaluated.

In a healthcare setup, quality relates to the treatment that a patient receives from the institute. This 'treatment' is a combination of medical attention as well as other factors such as courtesy and cooperation of the staff and the effectiveness of medicines used etc. health care institutions are somewhat bound by legal authorities to ensure that the medical treatment provided by them is of high quality and great standards. Quality management is the process by which a hospital ensures quality treatment of patients at all times.

Quality

The Industrial Revolution which stirred the history of the entire globe and changed the way businesses are conducted is responsible for the term 'quality' and the meaning attached to it. It is during this era that the ...