Quality Factors

Quality Factors

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Quality Factors

The healthcare industry has been focusing on finding the efficient ways of making the healthcare delivery system efficient. Within any health setting, the caregivers define several factors that are substantial for the measurement of safe patient-centered care. Currently, this industry is in the transition period and with the technological advances, the dynamics of discovery and hunt for understanding of quality factors and their impacts on patient outcomes and healthcare organizations. Healthcare service quality is based on the process of services and interactions between consumers and the service providers. Technological quality can be defined as the application of technological advances in medical sciences such that it maximizes the health benefits without having increase any risks. Quality has become a predominant part of human lives and they look means for improving the products and services. This existence of demand for quality has made organizations and regulatory bodies to consider it as a vital component in the industry. It is a strategic tool for sustaining competition while ensuring cost effectiveness, higher market shares and positive image of the organizations.

Cooperation among healthcare providers, patients and other regulatory organizations and stakeholders is an important factor of high quality healthcare services. The ability of practitioners and professionals involved in the healthcare system to communicate and collaborate with each other is an essential element for providing efficient care while considering higher patients and employees’ satisfaction ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Qevsk1Rb","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Mosadeghrad, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Mosadeghrad, 2014)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":248,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/U4MLD2N7"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/U4MLD2N7"],"itemData":{"id":248,"type":"article-journal","title":"Factors influencing healthcare service quality","page":"77","volume":"3","issue":"2","DOI":"10.15171/ijhpm.2014.65","title-short":"International Journal of Health Policy and Management","journalAbbreviation":"IJHPM","author":[{"family":"Mosadeghrad","given":"Ali Mohammad"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Mosadeghrad, 2014). Patient’s engagement in decision making is an important motive in achieving higher patient outcomes as they are considered as proactive partners and get the chance to involve in decision making process by the health professionals. It may also be associated with efficient and cost effective healthcare services ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"SBOaMl2b","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Xu, Cheung, & Wong, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Xu, Cheung, & Wong, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":254,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/5MRXKSY5"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/5MRXKSY5"],"itemData":{"id":254,"type":"article-journal","title":"The relationship between shared decision-making and health-related quality of life among patients in Hong Kong SAR, China","container-title":"International Journal for Quality in Health Care","page":"534-540","volume":"29","issue":"4","abstract":"To elucidate the association between health-related quality of life and shared decision-making among patients in Hong Kong after adjustment for potential confounding variables.A telephone survey was conducted with patients attending all public specialist outpatient clinics in Hong Kong between July and December 2014. The Specialist Outpatient Patient Experience Questionnaire and EQ-5D questionnaire were used to evaluate shared decision-making and quality of life, respectively. We performed a Tobit regression analysis to examine the associations between shared decision-making and quality of life after adjustment for known social, economic and health-related factors.Twenty-six of the Hospital Authority's specialist outpatient clinics.Patients aged 18 years or older who attended one of the Hospital Authority's specialist outpatient clinics between July and November 2014.Shared decision-making and quality of life score.Overall, 13 966 patients completed the study. The group reporting partial involvement in decision-making had slightly higher EQ-5D scores than the ‘not involved’ group and the ‘fully involved’ group. EQ-5D scores were higher among subjects who were younger, male, and had a higher level of education. Respondents living alone and living in institutions scored lower on the EQ-5D than patients living with families.Important differences in the relationship between the attitudes towards shared decision-making and quality of life were identified among patients. These associations should be taken into consideration when promoting patient-centred care and improving health professional–patient communication.","DOI":"10.1093/intqhc/mzx067","ISSN":"1353-4505","journalAbbreviation":"International Journal for Quality in Health Care","author":[{"family":"Xu","given":"Richard H."},{"family":"Cheung","given":"ANNIE W. L."},{"family":"Wong","given":"Eliza L. Y."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017",6,6]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Xu, Cheung, & Wong, 2017). The policies and regulations that govern healthcare industry ensure the workplace safety, compliance and high quality patient-centered care by formulizing policies and procedures of licensing, regulation and accreditation.

Technology is the driving force for bringing positive changes in the healthcare system. It has not only improved the methods of data collection and electronic health records but has allowed to bring remarkable innovations in robotic surgeries and telehealth programs. Technological changes have also improved the conventional methods of diagnosis, scanning and therapies. New equipment, drugs, treatments and the current social media attention have brought satisfactory results. The pace of innovations is accelerating and the trend and drivers of technology will bring unpredictable laurels in the future ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"n2gvRAkB","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Thimbleby, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Thimbleby, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":257,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/7NYRFV3L"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/7NYRFV3L"],"itemData":{"id":257,"type":"article-journal","title":"Technology and the future of healthcare","container-title":"Journal of public health research","page":"e28-e28","volume":"2","issue":"3","archive":"PubMed","archive_location":"25170499","abstract":"Healthcare changes dramatically because of technological developments, from anesthetics and antibiotics to magnetic resonance imaging scanners and radiotherapy. Future technological innovation is going to keep transforming healthcare, yet while technologies (new drugs and treatments, new devices, new social media support for healthcare, etc) will drive innovation, human factors will remain one of the stable limitations of breakthroughs. No predictions can satisfy everybody; instead, this article explores fragments of the future to see how to think more clearly about how to get where we want to go. Significance for public healthTechnology drives healthcare more than any other force, and in the future it will continue to develop in dramatic ways. While we can glimpse and debate the details of future trends in healthcare, we need to be clear about the drivers so we can align with them and actively work to ensure the best outcomes for society as a whole.","DOI":"10.4081/jphr.2013.e28","ISSN":"2279-9028","journalAbbreviation":"J Public Health Res","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Thimbleby","given":"Harold"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013",12,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Thimbleby, 2013). With the current influx of technology in the healthcare industry, consumer’s expectations have also increased and it is important for the professionals to meet those demands.

Inter-professional collaboration in healthcare industry is a vital aspect for bringing all the health professionals, patients, families, stakeholders and insurance companies together and making accurate decisions for the patient. The purpose of improving communications among individuals in a healthcare setting is to improve the patient outcomes because collaboration increases the performance and helps in citing the medical errors. The relationship between patients and care service providers and involvement of patients in health related decisions maximizes the satisfaction and reduces the chances of errors. When healthcare professionals do not communicate with each other, they put the patient safety at risk. The lack of critical information and wrong interpretation of information, vague instructions and overlooked orders can cause detrimental risks to the patient care. Majority of the medical errors are due to lack of communication among professionals and not considering the consent of patients or misguiding them about their treatment procedures. Literature has proved that inter-professional collaboration in a healthcare setting improves the performance of the patients’ treatment as well as the overall public health quality. It is imperative for all the healthcare organizations to ensure delivery of efficient care and safety of patients.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Mosadeghrad, A. M. (2014). Factors influencing healthcare service quality. 3(2), 77. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2014.65

Thimbleby, H. (2013). Technology and the future of healthcare. Journal of Public Health Research, 2(3), e28–e28. https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2013.e28

Xu, R. H., Cheung, A. W. L., & Wong, E. L. Y. (2017). The relationship between shared decision-making and health-related quality of life among patients in Hong Kong SAR, China. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 29(4), 534–540. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzx067