Quality of health service

The main difficulty in the matter of quality, in general, and in the health field in particular, is in defining and measuring it. In theory, I can repeat the claim of quality and there may be a specific model or perception in my mind, but do others agree with me in defining it and do they have the same perception of quality, and of The causes of low quality and how to develop and overcome its difficulties? Regardless of the difference in points of view and apart from the personal philosophy that I adopted in this field, there are simple principles by which one can judge the quality of performance or the health system, for example:

Reducing differences in medical practice and reducing medical errors indicates quality.

The short waiting times between appointments and the short waiting times for elective operations indicate the quality of the system.

The patient’s impression and opinion of the health system indicates the quality of the system.

The provision of health services in an acceptable manner to all segments of society in a balanced manner, including children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, people with chronic diseases, youth and others, indicates the quality of the health system.

Commitment to medical and administrative standards and ethics is another evidence of the quality of the system.

The existence of clear standards and systems governing the health system, indicating its quality.

The availability of effective health service at the appropriate time and place for the patient is evidence of the quality of the health system.

These are general indicators, some of which can be measured objectively, while others remain subject to personal points of view and the background from which the evaluation is based. Once again, examples are used to illustrate such a philosophy:

Quality from a medical professional perspective is providing the best services according to the latest scientific and professional developments, and this is governed by three main points: health practice ethics, expertise and quality, and the health service provided. Perfect dealing with each other and with the patient and administrator, as well as non-compliance with the standards and ethics that govern the health professions, in addition to poor qualification, practice and experience.

Quality from the perspective of the beneficiary or the patient, may differ from the professional concept by focusing on the method of obtaining the service and its final result. The final point of all this, and in the medical service, the first step in treatment should be knowing the patient’s complaint and needs, and the final goal should be to treat or overcome that complaint, and the details between that are considered useful to the patient, but it is not the goal of his review to seek treatment, and the best way To find out the quality check in this aspect lies in measuring the extent of customer satisfaction while they are in the health aspect of patients, in standardized ways that can be inferred from the quality of service..

Health quality from the administrative point of view is primarily concerned with how to use the available resources and the ability to attract more resources to cover the needs necessary to provide a distinguished service, and this implicitly includes the importance of providing the appropriate service at the necessary time and at acceptable costs, and as far as paying attention to costs and rationalizing resources, care must be taken not to This is at the expense of quality in performance, and this requires administrative competence at the planning level and at the executive level, and requires competence at the technical level and efficiency at the personal level, and requires good internal administrative organization as well as clear administrative organization in dealing with related parties outside the system. For example, with other financial entities that affect the amount of available resources, the management of the health system becomes responsible for developing professional, objective and social justifications and justifications that allow it to demand more resources. More precisely, searching for the necessary resources requires developing public relations for the institution and the health sector, including personal relationships. For the health leadership to search for more resources and to deal and persuade the concerned parties to provide those resources, and the need for social and personal relationships is more evident in societies with complex and ambiguous administrative, bureaucratic and political organizations, and the health system in general is a complex system that requires a lot of effort in improving administrative quality.

There remains another point of view of quality, which is the political point of view or the point of view of the leadership and senior management in the country, and the measurement here often stems from the extent of satisfaction of the citizen and resident with the performance of his leadership in supporting and developing the health service and the health system, and when the senior leadership puts its trust in the health leadership Or executive, it sets a goal for it that does not often depart from the framework of achieving citizen satisfaction by providing the best possible health services to him. It ensures the stability and natural development of the health system within the state’s administrative work system in general, with its economic, technical, social, environmental, and political aspects, etc.

For further clarification, we point out the importance of looking at health quality by looking at health care as a system, or what we call the health system, and quality is evaluated here according to individual and combined criteria in an organizational manner, looking at all the main components of the health system, including:

Infrastructure, including management, organization, legislation and laws that shape and govern the work of the medical and health team and what this implicitly includes, such as the relations between the members of the health team and with the relevant authorities outside the health team and the formation of the leadership administrative team.

The physical structure, including buildings, facilities, modernization and maintenance of equipment, etc.

Education and training, including vocational assessment, continuous training, competencies development, etc.

Quality foundations a

For quality, such as reviewing regulations and how they are conducted..etc.

Classification of the community practicing health service provision, its demographic, training and scientific backgrounds, and its relationship to the extent of job satisfaction and performance efficiency…etc.

Before the specific space for the topic ends, it was pointed out that the subject of health quality and its synonyms and derivatives is considered one of the specialized sciences that are studied independently or within the context of management, organization and health information topics. This article was not to limit all the points related to the subject as much as it was to provide an educational dose that we hope will contribute to shaping awareness and the general concept towards the issue of health development and measuring its quality, as an introduction or clarification of what we discussed previously in many articles and what we will discuss in the future in the field of criticism or evaluation The health system in general, and the health service provided by various sectors and health institutions.

Quality, health report and car dealership

Let’s imagine a car dealer holding a megaphone, embarrassing a car like this: “A car with four tires and one spare, a black car, a car with an engine that allows you to go forward and backward if needed, a car with four doors, a car with front and rear lights, a car with Round steering wheel…” What shall we say about this auctioneer, who is trying to convince us of his extraordinary commercial intelligence in marketing this car?! Did he give us something worth mentioning about the quality and efficiency of the car for sale?

With apologies for the quality of the analogy, we find this state of evidence in the annual health reports, as they tell us that there are hospitals, there are patients, there are doctors, there are money that is spent annually, and there are diseases… All of this is natural and known and we have no choice in it, as long as there are people whose numbers are increasing and increasing. their diseases, but what are the indicators that distinguish the quality, quality and performance that these reports provide us with, what are the development criteria that those annual reports and similar media statements provide us with..?

On the subject of quality, we point out to the reader that he should not be deceived by Dalal Haraj Al-Autoor by shouting about the car to be sold, but rather he should check what is provided to him or is hidden from him in terms of information related to the quality of the car, the efficiency of its engines and its mechanical performance…just as we are required to look into the quality of service And health performance, not being satisfied with the size of our health architectural projects, and the number of patients and beds…etc.