Perspective - (2021) Volume 11, Issue 8
In a world where technology breakthroughs are at an all-time high, medical research is progressing at a breakneck rate. However, when it comes to meeting patient demands, guaranteeing patient safety, system efficiency, and quality improvement, the healthcare system falls well short of expectations.
When a group of healthcare experts is asked to define quality, they may come up with as many definitions as there are persons in the room. And, depending on the perspective of the constituent: patients, their families, healthcare providers and professionals, regulators, insurers, and employers, different definitions can and will lead to different objectives and goals [1].
The degree to which health services for people and groups enhance the likelihood of desired health outcomes is referred to as quality of care. It is essential for obtaining universal health coverage since it is based on evidence-based professional expertise. As governments commit to attaining Health for all, the quality of care and health services must be carefully considered [2]. Quality medicare can be defined in a variety of ways, but there is a growing consensus that it should include:
Effectiveness of the system: Providing people in need with evidencebased healthcare services;
Patient Safety
Preventing damage to those who are receiving care; and Individual preferences, requirements, and values are taken into account when delivering care.
To get the advantages of high-quality health care, health services must meet the following criteria:
Availability on Time: Minimizing wait periods and, in certain cases, potentially hazardous delays;
Equitability: Delivering high-quality treatment regardless of gender, race, geographic location, or socioeconomic position;
Integrated: Delivering care that includes the entire range of health services throughout a person's life;
Efficient: Making the most of limited resources while minimising waste.
Quality-improvement principles in the healthcare sector
The method to service delivery, degree of patient happiness, efficiency, and result are all closely connected to quality improvement. To attain an improved level of performance and a successful organisational healthcare system, a successful programme always integrates quality improvement concepts. Here are four key ideas that healthcare organisations may employ to improve quality:
Work as Systems and Processes: Rather than viewing work as little and simple or large and complicated, an organisation must understand its own delivery system and essential processes. The cornerstone to every size organization's quality improvement strategy should be to streamline "Input - Process - Output" to fit the demands of that organization's health care delivery system [3,4].
Focus on the Patient: The basic idea underlying healthcare quality improvement is to align the patient's requirements and expectations.
Concentrate on data usage: Data is the foundation of quality improvement. It explains how present systems function, chronicles changes, and allows for comparison and monitoring to ensure long-term improvements. Better outcomes, less variance, fewer re-admissions, reduced infection rates, and fewer medical mistakes are all benefits of data-driven insights. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques are used to improve the quality of the healthcare system.
Concentrate on Care Coordination: This is the process of coordinating care activities. Each patient's Master Patient Index and Longitudinal Health Record are kept up to date by care coordination software (It becomes very effective if it is a case of a chronic condition). It aids in the reduction of a patient's care fragmentation by offering a secure network of trusted healthcare providers, as well as ensuring successful referrals and easy transitions between two or more healthcare providers.
Overall, increasing the quality and performance of the healthcare environment may assist providers in developing dependable, cost-effective, and long-lasting healthcare processes, allowing them to achieve their objective of improving care delivery and patient outcomes. On the front lines, it all starts with healthcare providers being accustomed to an atmosphere in which quality improvement takes precedence over process outcomes. Let's get started on improving the healthcare system's quality [4].
Citation: Choudhary S. Quality in Health Care: Commit to Achieving Health. Prim Health Care, 2021, 11(8), 396.
Received: 12-Aug-2021 Published: 31-Aug-2021, DOI: 10.35248/2167-1079.21.11.396
Copyright: 2021 Choudhary S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
