Quality Improvement

Quality Improvement

Introduction

With the passage of time, continuous improvement in processes of organizations, technological advancement, globalization, and immense competition is compelling health care organizations to take measures for quality improvement and the patient's safety. “The degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge” (Lohr, 1990) According to a report in most of the cases cause of errors are not individuals but flawed systems or processes. Healthcare sector has a complex structure due to ineffective and uneven processes, variable cases of patients, insurance policies, variable experiences and education, and various other factors. Keeping these factors in mind healthcare sector operates at a lower level of quality than it should be, and ignores the aims of healthcare: safe, equitable, effective, timely, patient-centered, and efficient. Improvement in processes can help to achieve these aims. Since most of the errors are the result of inefficient processes, so, the adaptation of total quality management techniques for identification of inefficiencies in the process, and improvement in inefficient processes is important (Lohr, 1990).

Discussion

What is Quality?

Avedis Donabedian, M.D, gave a basic concept of the nature of an activity developed to deliver consistent results. According to him an activity consists of the following three components: (Lohr, 1990).

Structure Process Outcome

And the process is further divided into:

Input Action Output

Production of healthcare product is not an output only but a process. The quality of a product is an evaluation of characteristics of the product. Good quality practices are the result of good performance and comparison among other organization leads to better performance. There are ambiguities in healthcare performance measurement, and last few years reporting of healthcare processes and the system have increased. This reporting from the public is the best way to identify ...