Introduction
Health care facility is an organization that is mandated with the prevention and treatment of patients. Health care facilities offer a range of services from different fields such as nursing, pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry. Globalization and market liberalization has led to increased competition in the market at large. The health sector has not been left behind due to privatization of various health institutions. The rise in population and need for fast and efficient services has also led to the emergence of private hospitals. Nevertheless, most governments have maintained public hospitals for patients who cannot afford costly services from private health facilities. Therefore, there is a significant need to ensure efficiency in health care institutions in order to ensure customer loyalty and attract new customers. There are different ways through which the management team of health firms can ensure this. Further, it is essential to measure performance in order to assess whether customers who in this case are patients are satisfied with available services.
Quality management system and S-P-O Models are the two main tools which are used to assess quality in health care facilities. Quality in health care facilities depends on the structure, process, and outcome of services received by patients, suppliers, and any other party that deals with the institution. This paper seeks to assess three performance factors and measures that include structure, process, and outcome. The three performance measures will be evaluated in relation to the admission process of a hospital which involves various stages. Firstly, patients are required to report the registration area and fill in certain forms. At this point patients who are insured are expected to provide their insurance identification cards. Secondly, a patient is given a bracelet which includes his or her name and his or her doctor`s name. Thereafter, patients are requested to sign consent forms before any form of medical attention is accorded. Otherwise, in case a patient is not feeling well, a caregiver or family member is asked to complete the admission process.
Structure
There are various structural measures that can be used to assess quality in health facilities. Firstly, number of employees can be used as a structural performance measure. Health care facilities have various departments. All these departments should be well staffed in order to ensure efficiency in service provision. Patients not only require frequent supervision, but also efficient services. This can be achieved through adequate staff recruitment in order to reduce challenges that face organizations as a result of labour shortage. In the case of hospital admission process, structure measure that can be employed in assessing performance is how well the facility is staffed. This will ensure patients are quickly admitted into the hospital. Quick admission will be achieved as a result of division of labour and adequate staff members. Secondly, ease of accessibility of the health facility can also be used as a measure of quality. The hospital administration area should be easily accessible to patients. Sign posts indicating the specific area where different areas and departments are situated should be erected all over the compound. This will give patients and other stakeholders easy time as they will be able to easily access different departments. Quality is all about enhancing productivity and ensuring customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is derived in different means such as making different areas within an organization easily accessible. As such, erecting sign posts indicating various areas including the hospital admission area will enhance satisfaction.
Process Measures
In the S-P-O Model, process refers to the activities that take place between patients and the staff. Patients interact with different parties within the hospital including nurses, doctors, matrons, and cleaners. Provision of medical care entails planning, evaluation, and assessing patients with an aim of making them feel better. In case of hospital admission, quality can be measured in the process through determining how receptive the employees were towards the patients. Communication is an essential tool while handling patients. Employees at the administration block of health facilities should ensure they communicate to patients with respect and empathy. This is because patients feel appreciated when they are treated with respect and care. In addition, process measure indicators in hospital administration area can be assessed by verifying how timely patients are attended to. As such, patients should take less time during admission. Further, there is a significant need to handle patients professionally. Health facilities operate under standard ethics, guidelines, and professional standards. For instance, any information about patients should be well guarded. These standards are applicable in all departments. Therefore, in the hospital admission area, information such as age and medical history should be well guarded by the hospital administrators.
Outcome Measures
Outcome measures refer to factors that determine whether a patient is satisfied or dissatisfied at the end of the treatment process. Health care outcomes can either be positive or negative and may include death, disability, satisfaction, or dissatisfaction. Poor performance results to negative outcomes whereas good performance results to positive results. Moreover, other measures of outcome include freedom from illness, social and mental stability, infections, and injuries. Hospital managers should aim at satisfying patients in any stage within the hospital. Satisfaction is ensured through offering of efficient and timely services, showing a lot of concern, and reducing chances of negligence. In hospital admission areas, outcome measure can be determined through patients` satisfaction. Patients can only be satisfied if they are treated with respected and care. In addition, patients` satisfaction can be realized through efficient and timely provision of services.
Conclusion
Quality is an essential element in ensuring productivity. This is because quality aims at ensuring efficient and effective service provision to customers. This in turn leads to customer loyalty and attraction of new customers. Currently, health care providers face stiff competition as a result of increased health care facilities. Therefore, it is essential to provide quality services. Quality in health care facilities can be assessed through quality management system and the S-P-O models. S-P-O Model comprises of three components. These include structure, process, and outcome. Structural performance measures include accessibility and adequate labour. On the other hand, process performance measures include how well patients are taken care of by nurses and doctors. Patients should be served in time and with a lot of respect. Lastly, quality is assessed through determining the outcomes of various processes. Outcomes can be positive or negative. Positive outcomes include patients` satisfaction and freedom from illness. These can only be realized through timely and correct treatment. On the other hand, negative outcomes include death, dissatisfaction, infections, and injuries. Negative outcomes result from negligence, lack of enough labour, poor reception, and lack of professionalism.
References
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