Quality Assurance and Issues in Healthcare Quality

Author(s):  
Amitava Mitra
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Vincent F. K. Tsoi ◽  
C. C. Chan ◽  
Y. W. Lau ◽  
Heyman Tang

Abstract 5-S is the first step towards TQM. Over the last century, the Japanese have formalised the technique and named it as 5-S Practice. Since 1993, Sam Ho has improved and defined its terms in English/Chinese and developed the world's first 5-S Audit Checklist. In the article, an emergency department of a Hong Kong hospital was examined against 5-S 50-point Checklist for the improvement of their quality assurance systems towards its accreditation process with Australian standards. The findings evidently reveal that the impact of 5-S on hospital quality assurance in the unit are positive. Riding on the above scenario, the research aim is to identify whether the 5-S practice is a suitable and effective tool for healthcare quality assurance in an emergency setting which is led towards its accreditation process set by other mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Athanassios Vozikis

For years, experts have recognized that medical errors exist and compromise healthcare quality. Much has been written worldwide about medical errors and improvements in their reporting and handling, with the proposals ranging from the implementation of nationwide mandatory reporting with public release of performance data to voluntary reporting and quality-assurance efforts that protect the confidentiality of error-related data. In the present chapter, the author first points out the lack of standardized nomenclature and a universal taxonomy-classification for adverse events and medical errors, which complicates the development of a response to these issues. The chapter also reviews a number of methods of and adverse events’ and medical errors’ knowledge management, each of which has evolved over time and been adapted to different contexts. Finally, the author assesses each of these methods, unveiling their particular strengths and advantages, and also weaknesses and limitations.


Author(s):  
Sofia Xesfingi ◽  
Athanassios Vozikis

Quality of care from the patient's perspective and patient satisfaction are two major multidimensional concepts that are used several times interchangeably. Patient satisfaction is a topic that is important both to medical (health) providers, the patients (consumers) and other third-party stakeholders in the medical care industry; it is, therefore, a dominant concept in quality assurance and quality improvement programmes. Patient satisfaction is an important measure of healthcare quality because it offers information on the provider's success at meeting the expectations of most relevance to the client. The importance of quality in the health care sector has been recognized recently, but it has been accelerated over the past years through the development of quality assurance, quality improvement programmes and patients' agendas. Patients are the ones situated at the front lines of care; therefore their opinion may provide useful insights into the quality of healthcare in different European systems, nevertheless the methodological limitations that should be taken into consideration.


2017 ◽  
pp. 1172-1182
Author(s):  
Sofia Xesfingi ◽  
Athanassios Vozikis

Quality of care from the patient's perspective and patient satisfaction are two major multidimensional concepts that are used several times interchangeably. Patient satisfaction is a topic that is important both to medical (health) providers, the patients (consumers) and other third-party stakeholders in the medical care industry; it is, therefore, a dominant concept in quality assurance and quality improvement programmes. Patient satisfaction is an important measure of healthcare quality because it offers information on the provider's success at meeting the expectations of most relevance to the client. The importance of quality in the health care sector has been recognized recently, but it has been accelerated over the past years through the development of quality assurance, quality improvement programmes and patients' agendas. Patients are the ones situated at the front lines of care; therefore their opinion may provide useful insights into the quality of healthcare in different European systems, nevertheless the methodological limitations that should be taken into consideration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 493-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gangaraju Vanteddu ◽  
Charles D. McAllister

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated framework to simultaneously identify and improve healthcare processes that are important from the healthcare provider's and patient's perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – A modified quality function deployment (QFD) chart is introduced to the field of healthcare quality assurance. A healthcare service example is used to demonstrate the utility of the proposed chart. Findings – The proposed framework is versatile and can be used in a wide variety of healthcare quality improvement contexts, wherein, two different perspectives are needed to be considered for identifying and improving critical healthcare processes. Practical implications – The modified QFD chart used in conjunction with the stacked Pareto chart will facilitate the identification of key performance metrics from the patient's and the hospital's perspectives. Subsequently, the chief contributory factors at different levels are identified in a very efficient manner. Originality/value – Healthcare quality improvement professionals will be able to use the proposed modified QFD chart in association with stacked Pareto chart for effective quality assurance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 148-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Cookson ◽  
M. Asaria ◽  
S. Ali ◽  
R. Shaw ◽  
T. Doran ◽  
...  

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