Key ingredients for successful quality outcomes

 

Healthcare is a revolutionary field and so is the concept of quality in healthcare . Quality in health care is evolving rapidly in terms of perceptions and outcomes. Providing quality health care within the constraints is the challenge most of the hospitals are facing. Nevertheless in an environment of limited resources it is possible to deliver successful quality outcomes.

Quality assurance stands for meeting defined standards. It is attainment of goals set to achieve the best  and toil upwards reaching up to a benchmark standard. Hospital is the most complex structure as an organisation . Hospital desires quality in all aspects right from the care of patient in  the emergency department  to the supply of food to the patients .

Quality not only deals with the processes and protocols but also deals with the people and their attitudes . Establishing quality in a hospitals a great deal of challenge for a green field hospital as well as for the existing hospital. For a green field hospital challenges primarily are  – cost and experienced professional

For an existing hospital the biggest challenge in implementing quality improvement programs is  changing the attitude of people. The employees develop a distress of being under constant surveillance. They find that the quality control process as a tool to map the work processes .The messege should clearly percolate in the staff that  the aim of quality improvement programs  is to  bring out process inefficiency and not highlighting people inefficiency .

 

 

The key elements of a successful strategy can be organized into the following

categories:

 

1.    The right culture

2.    The right people

3.    The right Processes

4.    The right tools

 

 

The right culture

The right organisation culture is essential to achieve successful quality outcomes. The management should establish a clear quality-related mission, and performance measurement and targets consistent with the mission. Strong leadership is required from the Management side for regular reporting of the dashboard. A Clear communication and rules should  be developed that encourage physicians, nurses, and technicians  to report errors. This requires ensuring that those who report errors may remain anonymous and not be penalized.

The Right People

Identify the right people to form a Quality Assurance Team. The team should be multi disciplinary  to manage and coordinate patient care and to conduct Quality improvement  review and analysis  with the outcomes .These team should be efficient in retrieving  data from the HMIS ensure . Identify the team leaders and give them authority and accountability.

 

The Right Processes

The hospital should engage in a quality improvement process marked by constant  measuring, comparing, and problem solving and monitoring. This include developing and implementing an action plan (e.g., a plan to reduce variation and to change the practice patterns of physicians who are shown to be outliers in the data analysis) with timetables and goals. Continued monitoring to ensure the intervention was successful, and holding appropriate department chiefs or staff accountable for implementing the plan and improving outcomes.

 

The right tool

Hospital which strives for continuous quality improvement provide the right tools to their staff .This includes investments in and latest technology to facilitate the QI process. It also includes access to guidelines and protocols. Other tools involve external training, peer networking, attending workshops and conferences that provide guidance and feedback.

 

 

 

 

Ms. Neha Bhagatkar

 

Young, enthusiastic healthcare Professional, Working as Assistant Professor with Symbiosis Institute of health sciences .Holds a  Masters degree In Hospital administration (MHA) form TISS Mumbai . Possesses  experience in Hospital Operations and quality assurance  . Areas of interest are Hospital planning , Quality  Assurance  and accreditation .