Measuring Quality and Performance in Health Care Organization - Essay Example

"Measuring Quality and Performance in Health Care Organization" is a great example of a paper on the health system. Health care organizations rely on statistical data to make decisions on ways of improving quality and performance. Further, healthcare organizations use presentation tools such as pie charts, tables, and different types of graphs to track collected data. The selected data collection method must comply with the confidentiality policy where patient information and the feedback given by participants are not accessible to the third party. This paper discusses two methods of data collection and how they can be used to measure quality and performance in a health care organization.

Surveys are among the frequently used method of collecting data in a health care organization (Safdar et al., 2016). The survey method is useful especially when a large sample is required to present a relatively large population with a predetermined parameter such as quality of service in a health care facility. Data collected using a survey can be descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory (Safdar et al., 2016). In measuring the quality and performance of a health organization, surveys in the form of questionnaires are presented to randomly identified patients needed to provide answers to questions contained in the survey sheets. For example, the survey may collect data on the length of stay and discharge. Sarkies and associates (2015) found that length of stay is an important measure of efficiency and effectiveness of health services (quality and performance).
Among the advantages of the survey method, is that the approach is cost-effective and easy to conduct. Moreover, the survey method is user-friendly, and the participants are more than ready to share information, especially if an online survey is conducted (Sarkies et al., 2015). On the other hand, a survey requires a literate population to provide information upon which they turn to be biased. In addition, there are possible cooperation problems among the respondents, especially when obtaining information from low literacy audiences. Sarkies et al. (2015) found that where a survey is a face to face, it becomes expensive and time-consuming.

The observation method has been used in health care organizations to collect qualitative data that would be used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of health services such as performance (Salmon, 2015). Further, while using the observation method, the researcher can provide a description of how and where a certain activity took place as well as when and how long the activity took to end (time factor). For illustration, through observation, the researcher can record the time taken for one particular patient to see a physician and leave the facility. The observation method is categorized into two, structured and unstructured observation method (Salmon, 2015). The bottom line of the observation method of collecting data is to examine and measure clinical practice delivery and other health care activities (Fry, Curtis, Considine, & Shaban, 2017).
Salmon (2015) found that the observation method is easy and simple to conduct because one has to see and observe what and how people perform certain activities. In this kind of scenario, the data recorded as a result of observation can provide compelling and revealing information. However, the observation method is complex and challenging in nature in the sense that participants may not follow routine practices, especially if they realized they are being observed. Fry et al. (2017) noted that the observation method might lead to highly prejudiced data.
In conclusion, health care organizations require accurate, reliable, and relevant data to measure quality and performance. It means, therefore, that methods such as surveys and observation designed to collect data in health care organizations should aim at achieving the objectives of the research as well as minimizing errors or mistakes.