Quality management in health care

Abstract

Admission

Quality in healthcare can be broadly understood depending on your point of view. It is perceived differently by patients who focus their attention on relationships with staff, research and treatment outcomes, as well as the atmosphere and environment in which they are staying. On the other hand, for healthcare professionals, quality is mainly related to the reliable provision of services, in accordance with accepted standards, with the use of specific tools. Quality in health care is a particularly important problem, as it is always associated with the provision of services for the health or even of human life, therefore, for any medical entity, the quality of health services is the most important aspect when providing services. Treatment of the Patient should not only be carried out in accordance with the current knowledge and values important for the Patient himself,

Aim

 The aim of the work is to analyze quality management in health care.

Material and method

 Review of the available literature on the subject.

Results

A satisfactory level of quality of the provided health services can be obtained through thorough and systematic checks of the current level of services and effective actions improving this process. Both internal and external methods of ensuring care are used to ensure a high level of care quality. Internal methods used by health care facilities include the development of their own quality assurance programs, including examination and assessment of the quality of medical or nursing care, monitoring and prevention of infections and others. Patient satisfaction is a common method as patient satisfaction with the care provided is the most important indicator of its effectiveness. Most often, the external quality assessment of healthcare organizations in Poland is subject to compliance with the ISO 9001 standard or with the accreditation standards of the Healthcare Quality Monitoring Center. ISO is the International Standard Organization, which creates various types of standards as well as technical specifications and reports for the entire needs, prepared by a specially appointed Technical Committee 176 (Technical Committee 176 - ISO / TC 176). The ISO 9000 family standards are dedicated to quality management systems and are now used in more than one hundred countries. The implementation of the Quality Management System based on these standards proves the ordering and rationalization of activities (efficiency and effectiveness) and the ability to establish the quality policy.

Conclusions

The guarantee of high-quality service at an appropriately low cost is a significant challenge for health care units that want to survive on the increasingly competitive health market. Patients' expectations are growing, changing, and patient satisfaction research in the field of healthcare becomes the basis for launching the quality improvement process. The medical area is a branch of human activity, where the level of benefits may affect human life and health, so efforts to ensure the highest quality are fully justified, and even advisable.