Improving Quality in Health Care - Essay Example

In the health care field, the main method of quality improvement is mainly the use of data-based methods to bring about immediate improvements in health care. It mainly involves research methods like interaction with patients and health workers in a way that the ethical conducts of the standards embodied in the federal regulations on ethical interaction with human subjects are met (Dlugacz, 2004). This is brought about by the need to have a clear way in which safety and quality services can be improved in the care centers where risks and cases are the order the day. The only way that success comes about is through the use of comments and complaints from our patients to learn on our strengths and our weaknesses and deal with them amicably. Benjamin Health Care center is a health care that prides itself in meeting the requirements of the health center and removing any obstacles that may hinder quality services to the patients. For the past twelve years, our organization has been using performance measurements to improve our service standards. This entailed the use of financial performance to dictate whether success has been achieved or not. Profits have been used to indicate success and liquidation indicates failure. Though this does not entail what the patient feels or thinks, there is a need for the company to keep track of all that goes on in the financial sector to help in realizing the areas that need major improvements. The manager of the healthcare center is the head of the quality improvement steering committee by the virtue of him being the head of all the supervisors and physicians in the center. The mission of the hospital is the provision of excellent and quality health care for all the residents and also to provide employment and education opportunities for all those who care for them. It is clear that the people in the health care are handed the responsibility of ensuring quality health care for all the patients in terms of reducing risks and increasing safety for the patients and all the other members in the center. The center’s philosophy is to view every person as an integrated whole and embracing him with dignity and respect to provide a base for unique potential in the growth and development of the individual. We recognize that health is more than the absence of disease; it also entails the enjoyment of physical, emotional and spiritual fitness (Institute of Medicine 2001). Our goals are to acts as a leader and role model in the in offering long-term care and also promoting and fostering career mobility and development. With these values in place, the organization has a clear way in which the strategic plan is to come up with goals and ways in which to achieve them. By using the FOCUS/PDSA model, the manager strives to create a multi-disciplinary team approach to come up with a way in which the center will handle the issues that relate to patients most. The manager is as well intent in coming up with a host of working relationships and achieve some sort of balance between their own expectations and responsibilities in relation to those of the organization (Dlugacz, 2004). He works with managers from various departments to come up with ways in which they will work within the provided budget and in turn provide effective and efficient services. This has of late been achieved through collaboration in projects undertaken by the staff members from different departments. The manager takes it as his responsibility to ensure that all the members in the team are on board when it comes to the policies that are to be carried out to assist in the improvement of services offered by the center. The next stage is where all the people are given a chance to ask for clarification and come up with ways in which they were to come up with a clear understanding of the stipulated roles of each person and also detail the responsibilities assigned to each individual. The best way to come up with improved interactions in a health center is to build a close network among the people and also create a good rapport with the patients through closer relations while offering them services. The mission statement state that we want to be the role model in the health care profession and this is achieved through the working together towards a common goal. We have recently been accredited for being the best health performance in the country by the virtue of us being the only center in the region that provides patient-centered treatment and yet keeps the standards of Joint Commissions board. The role of every member of the care center is to come up with individual means of improving health care from his professional background and create room for improvement through attending the many seminars that are offered in the health center. We have noted that this has paid of great fruits to the center by the virtue of it being the preferred health center for those who reside nearby. We are also working towards achieving better facilities to keep up with the upcoming technological advancements. The manager has to come up with certain ways in which he can serve the patient and reduce the number of complaints. It is evident that the manager has to juggle between competing agendas in order to ensure that they provide efficient and effective services to the patients (Dlugacz, 2004). Despite the entire work load that is on his shoulders, he has to among other things be the patient’s advocate. He has the responsibility of mediating directly on the bedside care of the vulnerable, unhappy and often out of control patients and the rest of the complex health care organization (Dlugacz, 2004). He has to organize his employees effectively by setting priorities on a daily basis to keep them on toes and ensure that they stay focused on the intended goals. It has been noted by the center manager that the staff input together with predefined expectations, roles and goals have great influence in the way that priorities for provision of quality healthcare for the patients’ sake are carried out. To ensure that the manager is taking the right steps towards achievement of goals, means of evaluating the success of the process have to be undertaken to ensure that the staff have a way of knowing their progress. It is important to note that the managers have the greatest role in ensuring the coordination of all the staff members as they are the ones with the responsibility of bringing forth the steps that need b taken to combat ineffective values among the staff members. The many processes that are undertaken need be evaluated to know where the processes are working and where they are stalling. Studying the process has been found to be very effective as it entails the review of the results and if the intended impact has been achieved (Institute of Medicine 2001). Accreditation of the center created a basis for the evaluation of the goals that we had set up as we had to interact with surveyors and learn more on what was important and how that could be achieved. We have also been measuring the item-by-item success of each strategy where the number of the patients the strategic plan was performed on is put against the total number of patients (Institute of Medicine 2001). We have found really encouraging results that have helped us strive to meet the desired target of bringing the number of complains to below 10% by the end of this year. We have also received numerous compliments from the patients implying that they appreciated our services. Performance measurement has really assisted our health center to come up with strategies that take into consideration complains and compliments of patients to create an environment where services offered are trusted and administered without discrimination. References: Dlugacz Y., et al, (2004), The Quality Handbook for Health Care Organizations: A Managers Guide to Tools and Programs, as viewed on 19th May, 2009 http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/14/07879692/0787969214.pdf Institute of Medicine (2001) Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press Read More