Essay on Understanding Quality and Performance of Healthcare Services

This chapter Understanding quality and performance explains a variety of factors that affects the performance and provision of quality healthcare services. In the introduction section of the chapter, the author has mentioned that for an organization to achieve success, they must have goals and objectives which they have to follow. Moreover, we also get to realized how concepts of performance measurement and strategy are crucial to effective leadership. Below the goals and objective section, we have performance, strategy, finance, and quality segment. Here, we are shown how organizational performance includes both quality and financial concerns. It continues to demonstrate how quality and financial measures are bunched under the umbrella of strategic performance. It illustrates that strategic performance is represented by an accumulation of a succession of short-term performance and this is also true for both financial and quality performances.

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Through this chapter, we learn that to ensure sustainability of quality and financial performance over a long term, key initiatives and investments must be utilized. Some of these initiatives and investments are elements of strategy, and its successful execution will ensure long-term strategic performance. Although financial performance is usually used to gauge the success of a strategy, quality performance should be given a priority since it defines organizational performance. We also learn that quality performance is in many ways in its childhood in healthcare. Quality care delivered is an integral and most distinguishing attribute of an organization. Therefore, quality of health care should have at least equal importance to volume measures.

Are quality efforts which are already in place in healthcare facilities sufficient? The answer is No. Given that consumers requiring health services are unable to notice quality differences should not be overlooked that quality services are indeed offered. Board of directors and management staff of most hospital facilities has failed to promote quality agenda since the structure between the hospital board, and medical staff does not permit them to monitor the quality. Multiple studies have identified a connection between hospital expenses and outcomes. The Higher financial margin is associated with higher quality. This means the rich will be favored and the poor will access the average quality. Physicians, on the other hand, can deliver the care depending on workload and job satisfaction. A Recent study shows that more hours of nursing care translates to better outcomes. However, most hospital facilities have less staff compared to patients this results in stressing of existing staff and therefore provision of poor services is inevitable. Furthermore, some of the existing infrastructure and technology in our healthcare facilities are yet to justify their presence by delivering quality health care (Groene, 2011).

Some of the forces influencing our hospital facilities are more challenging to master than others. The culture of our hospital facilities is built on internal communication this includes training materials, policies and interpersonal relationships. Hospital employees are happier when there is respect between one another. Moreover, employees are motivated when their achievements are recognized. And this translates to the provision of quality health care. Also, the structure of hospital facilities is an internal factor that affects the hospitals daily operations. The number of employees hired, the level of the hierarchy and the roles of employees are some of the structural elements of an organization that affects the provision of better services. Economics might be a universal concern affecting the supply of health care equipment, drugs or even payment of physicians. This is an external factor which might affect the quality of care offered. Other external factors include legal-political factors; this implies that sometimes laws may be enacted by the government which directly or indirectly affects the operations of health care sector.

References

Groene, O. (2011). Patient centredness and quality improvement efforts in hospitals: rationale, measurement, implementation. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 23(5), 531-537. doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzr058

Naidu, A. (2009). Factors affecting patient satisfaction and healthcare quality. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 22(4), 366-381. doi:10.1108/09526860910964834

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