Quality Improvement Framework and Indicators Research Paper

Quality Improvement Framework and Indicators - Research Paper Example   A multitude of quality improvement frameworks have been devised. These frameworks include European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Chronic Care Model (CCM), and others. According to Massoud, four principles of quality improvement are particularly important. These include: focus on the client, understanding of service systems along with key processes, team work, and focus on the use of data. In the healthcare industry particularly, services should be devised to satiate the needs of clients. An important measure of quality improvement is the extent to which customers’ needs are fulfilled. In order to bring improvements in healthcare quality, it is also important to fathom key processes first. In every healthcare organization, work is accomplished by different people working in teams. Therefore teamwork is a pre-requisite for quality improvement in healthcare organizations. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of improved systems, it is imperative to analyze data before and after the implementation of those changes (Massoud, n.d.).Responsiveness, in other words, patient-centeredness, is another dimension. Patient-centeredness is the degree to which a healthcare organization gives importance to its patients. A good way to assess this is to evaluate patients’ experience in terms of their healthcare. Accessibility is also a dimension which describes the degree to ease to which healthcare services are provided. Equity is related to health care financing, health status, and outcomes.... Equity measures the degree to which a healthcare organization provides healthcare services to its people. The optimum use of healthcare resources available to a healthcare organization is considered efficiency. Efficiency can further be classified into ‘micro efficiency’ and ‘macro efficiency’. In some frameworks, macro-efficiency is often replaced with sustainability. It involves the overall healthcare spending at the right level. On the other side, macro efficiency refers to the realization of resources. According to a conceptual framework for healthcare quality indicators (HCQI), healthcare performance dimensions include quality, access, cost, equity, and efficiency. According to the framework presented by Edward Kelly and Jeremy Hurst, the core quality improvement dimensions include Effectiveness, safety and responsiveness/patient centeredness. These dimensions can significantly increase the desired outcomes (Kelly & Hurst, 2006). According to Donabedian , indicators can be classified into structure and process. Structure indicators of healthcare indicators include qualification of doctors and facilities available at the healthcare organization. Process indicators include proper delivery of appropriate healthcare to the organization. Areas which should be monitored for Quality In order for an organization to successfully implement a quality improvement framework, it is important to adopt an apt methodology. First of all, it is imperative to identify components which need to be improved. In healthcare organizations, some of the common problems which need to be addressed include inaccessibility of drugs and medicines, unavailability of staff, poor management of laboratory, and waiting time. The next step is to