scholarly journals Identifying and encouraging high-quality healthcare: an analysis of the content and aims of patient letters of compliment

2020 ◽  
pp. bmjqs-2019-010077
Author(s):  
Alex Gillespie ◽  
Tom W Reader

BackgroundAlthough healthcare institutions receive many unsolicited compliment letters, these are not systematically conceptualised or analysed. We conceptualise compliment letters as simultaneously identifying and encouraging high-quality healthcare. We sought to identify the practices being complimented and the aims of writing these letters, and we test whether the aims vary when addressing front-line staff compared with senior management.MethodsA national sample of 1267 compliment letters was obtained from 54 English hospitals. Manual classification examined the practices reported as praiseworthy, the aims being pursued and who the letter was addressed to.ResultsThe practices being complimented were in the relationship (77% of letters), clinical (50%) and management (30%) domains. Across these domains, 39% of compliments focused on voluntary non-routine extra-role behaviours (eg, extra-emotional support, staying late to run an extra test). The aims of expressing gratitude were to acknowledge (80%), reward (44%) and promote (59%) the desired behaviour. Front-line staff tended to receive compliments acknowledging behaviour, while senior management received compliments asking them to reward individual staff and promoting the importance of relationship behaviours.ConclusionsCompliment letters reveal that patients value extra-role behaviour in clinical, management and especially relationship domains. However, compliment letters do more than merely identify desirable healthcare practices. By acknowledging, rewarding and promoting these practices, compliment letters can potentially contribute to healthcare services through promoting desirable behaviours and giving staff social recognition.

Author(s):  
Sujeet Jaydeokar ◽  
John Devapriam ◽  
Jane McCarthy ◽  
Chaya Kapugama ◽  
Sabyasachi Bhaumik

It is important to ensure that people with intellectual disability (ID) have access to high quality healthcare services. There is a wide variation in the availability of services and service delivery models globally for people with ID. Reasons for these variations are examined including availability of workforce resources and the development and availability of specialist resources. Tracing the development of services across the world, the chapter goes on to review the ongoing debate on access to generalized healthcare services versus the role of specialist services. We review advantages and disadvantages of different service delivery models. While these models have evolved in response to the political, cultural, and economic environment, it is important that any development of service delivery model signs up to basic underlying principles of person-centred, right-based, and outcome-focused approach. This should be undertaken in partnership with service users and carers in the spirit of co-production and with the underlying principles of choice, inclusion, rights, and independence. Any service development should also ensure that it would meet the complex health needs of people with ID as described in the tiered model of services with an efficient use of available resources. It should be sustainable through development of skills, competencies, and capabilities of the workforce and agencies that work with people with ID. There are number of examples across countries of innovative service provisions by public, private, and voluntary sectors as described in the chapter and it is important that we learn from those models. Advocating should be an integral aspect of any service delivery; we should be constantly advocating globally for high quality healthcare based on the best available evidence for people with ID.


2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 243-248
Author(s):  
Joanna Connor

The analysis of critical incidents is crucial to the provision of safe, high quality healthcare services to patients. It is essential to analyse the incident and make decisions about how future similar incidents should be dealt with. This article is a reflection on a critical incident involving a theatre practitioner working outside her normal field of responsibility which was used to change practice.


Author(s):  
Yifeng Shen

Thanks to the rapid development in the field of information technology, healthcare providers rely more and more on information systems to deliver professional and administrative services. There are high demands for those information systems that provide timely and accurate patient medical information. High-quality healthcare services depend on the ability of the healthcare provider to readily access the information such as a patient’s test results and treatment notes. Failure to access this information may delay diagnosis, resulting in improper treatment and rising costs (Rind et al., 1997).


Author(s):  
Andreia Robert Lopes ◽  
Ana Sofia Dias ◽  
Bebiana Sá-Moura

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare worldwide and laid several fundamental problems that will have to be tackled to ensure high-quality healthcare services. This pandemic has represented an unparalleled challenge for healthcare systems and poses an opportunity to innovate and implement new solutions. Digital transformation within healthcare organizations has started and is reshaping healthcare. Technologies such as blockchain and IoT can bring about a revolution in healthcare and help solve many of the problems associated with healthcare systems that the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated. In this chapter, IoT and blockchain technologies were discussed, focusing on their main characteristics, integration benefits, and limitations, identifying the challenges to be addressed soon. The authors further explored its potential in describing concrete cases and possible applications for healthcare in general and specifically for COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Moazen ◽  
Joy Mauti ◽  
Paula Meireles ◽  
Tereza Černíková ◽  
Florian Neuhann ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Condom provision is one of the most effective harm reduction interventions to control sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis in prisons. Yet, very few countries around the world provide prisoners with condoms. The present study aimed to elucidate principles of effective prison-based condom programs from the perspective of European public health and prison health experts. Methods As a part of the “Joint Action on HIV and Co-infection Prevention and Harm Reduction (HA-REACT)” twenty-one experts from the field of prison health from eight European countries were invited to discuss the principles of condom provision programs in prisons within two focus groups. The audio records were transcribed verbatim, coded, categorized, and analyzed using thematic analysis method. Results Six components emerged from the analysis as essential for successful condom programs in prisons: (1) highlighting the necessity of condom provision in prisons, (2) engagement of internal and external beneficiaries in all stages of designing and implementing the program, (3) conducting a pilot phase, (4) condom program in a comprehensive package of harm reduction interventions, (5) vending machine as the best method of condom distribution in prisons and (6) assuring the sustainability and quality of the intervention. Conclusion Results of the present study can help prison health policy makers to design and conduct acceptable, accessible and high-quality prison-based condom provision programs, and consequently to mitigate the burden of STIs in prisons. Having access to high-quality healthcare services including condom provision programs is not only the right of prisoners to health, but also is a move towards achieving the sustainable development goal 3 of “leaving no one behind.”


2016 ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Minh Tam Nguyen ◽  
Shimamura Yasuharu

Background: Patients often have their focus on looking for the high-quality healthcare services while minimizing costs in order to choose the healthcare facilities appropriate to their needs. Moreover, a double burden disease has led to changes in healthcare delivery model and health seeking behavior of patients. However, the relationship between such illness and the utilization of health care services has rarely been empirically assessed. Objective: To clarify how health status and symptoms associated with the healthcare facility choice. Methods: We conducted this survey in 3 provinces (Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri, and Khanh Hoa), with 6,898 residents in 1,478 households. The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2) was used to classify the symptoms. Results: There were 1,816 people having illness/injury during the last 3 months (26.3) and the majority of them went to CHCs when they got sick. Patients with digestive, neurological and respiratory symptoms were more likely to use CHCs as the first contact point. In contrast, people with musculoskeletal, female genital, and urological diseases were more likely to visit the higher level facilities such as provincial and central hospitals than CHCs. Key words: Healthcare sevices


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 33-33
Author(s):  
Sue Turner ◽  
Matt Houghton

Author(s):  
Hung-Wen Tsai ◽  
Su-Wen Huang ◽  
Yin-Lurn Hung ◽  
Yu-Shan Hsu ◽  
Chien-Chung Huang

Background: competition in the healthcare market is becoming increasingly intense. Health technology continues to evolve, so hospitals and clinics need to strengthen hospital management techniques and also adopt a more patient-centered approach in order to provide high-quality healthcare services, including a more simplified process and shorter waiting times for examinations. The Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and smart technology were introduced and implemented into the integrated perioperative management (PERIO) processes for the purpose of decreasing pre-admission management waiting time, as well as increasing the completion rate and quality of pre-admission management for surgical patients in a 1576-bed medical center in central Taiwan. Methods: in order to improve hospital admission procedures for surgical patients by shortening process waiting times, simplifying admission processes, emphasizing a patient-centered approach, and providing the most efficient service process, the present study applied the DMAIC architecture of the Lean Six Sigma. This approach allowed the patients to save time on the hospital admission process. The current workflow used value flow mapping to identify wasted time caused by unnecessary walking and waiting during the hospital admission process. Therefore, we improved the process cycle for each patient by simultaneously selecting and controlling the process for the purpose of saving time. Results: the experimental results show that the percentage of Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) increased from 35.42% to 42.47%, Value Added was reduced from 34 to 31 min, and Non-Value Added was reduced from 62 to 42 min. The satisfaction score of the 97 pre-implementation patients was 4.29 compared with 4.40 among the 328 post-implementation patients (p < 0.05). The LOS (Length of Stay) of 2660 pre-implementation patients was 2.49~3.31 days and for 304 after-implementation patients it was 1.16~1.57 days. Conclusions: by integrating different units and establishing standard perioperative management (PERIO) procedures, together with the support of the information systems, the time spent by patients on hospital admission procedures was shortened. These changes also improved the comprehensiveness of the preoperative preparations and the surgical safety of patients, thereby facilitating the provisions necessary for high-quality healthcare services. This in turn reduced the average length of hospital stays and increased the turnover of patients, benefiting the overall operations of the hospital.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thuy T. Dang ◽  
Anh D. Pham

PurposeWhile technological advances have been changing the way that services are delivered to customers, direct interaction between banks’ front-line staff and customers still holds its distinct position in the banking sector. This research investigates the relationship between interactional justice and the willingness of commercial banks’ front-line staff to engage in customer-centric behaviors, as well as the mediators behind this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis research combined both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In-depth interviews were employed to explore the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between interactional justice and customer-centric behavior and to develop the specific measurement scale for customer-centric behavior in the banking service context. A survey was conducted to test the conceptual model using a sample of 312 customer contact employees working in Vietnamese commercial banks.FindingsThe research results indicate that interactional justice significantly enhances employees’ willingness to engage in customer-centric behaviors, and this relationship is partially mediated by overall job satisfaction and the leader-member exchange relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThis research faces several limitations. The first limitation concerns the fact that the data are based on self-reports, which might lead to common method biases. Second, this study used a sample drawn from the North of Vietnam only. Third, this study adopted a limited set of measurement items due to the concerns of model parsimony and data collection efficiency. Fourth, we followed prior justice work to assume the linear relationship between interactional justice and leader-member exchange, in which the leader-member exchange is hypothesized to be the outcome of fair treatment (Erdogan and Liden, 2006; Masterson et al., 2000). Last, we only considered how leaders treat their followers through the lens of interactional justice, while interactional justice differentiation has also been affirmed as a crucial determinant of leader-member exchange and employees’ performance. Originality/valueThis research is noteworthy that it is the first to take a social exchange perspective to examine customer-oriented behavior as an outcome of interpersonal interactions in the workplace. Accordingly, it delivers a key message to bank supervisors: “Treat employees the way you want your customers to be treated.”


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Carol Dudding

Whether in our professional or private lives, we are all aware of the system wide efforts to provide quality healthcare services while containing the costs. Telemedicine as a method of service delivery has expanded as a result of changes in reimbursement and service delivery models. The growth and sustainability of telehealth within speech-language pathology and audiology, like any other service, depends on the ability to be reimbursed for services provided. Currently, reimbursement for services delivered via telehealth is variable and depends on numerous factors. An understanding of these factors and a willingness to advocate for increased reimbursement can bolster the success of practitioners interested in the telehealth as a service delivery method.


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