Quality Assurance

This study aimed to examine the effect of quality of services provided in private hospitals on the patient’s trust. [from abstract]

Optimizing Performance and Quality (OPQ) is a stakeholder-driven, cyclical process for analyzing human and organizational performance and setting up interventions to improve performance and quality or build on strengths and successes. The OPQ process is a seven-stage process to builds capacity within an organization to recognize and address problems or performance gaps on an ongoing basis. [from resource]

Current indicators used to measure efforts and progress in HRH are limited and often unreliable. These limitations constrain country, donor, and program efforts to identify and address gaps in HRH and to track progress over time. CapacityPlus developed the HRH Effort Index to enable countries, program implementers, and donors to more readily assess and measure national HRH inputs and potentially to predict workforce performance, service use, and quality. [from abstract]

Our research brings mixed findings on the effectiveness of user fee subsidisation as a strategy to increase the utilisation of services. Future work should focus on feasibility issues associated with the removal or reduction of user fees and how to sustain its effects on utilisation in the longer term. [from abstract]

Very few studies have assessed performance of Botswana public hospitals. We draw from a large research study assessing performance of the Botswana Ministry of Health (MoH) to evaluate the performance of public hospital system using the World Health Organization Health Systems Performance Assessment Framework (WHO HSPAF).

The health sector is characterized by a human resource base lacking in numbers, specialized skills, and management skills. West African Health Organization (WAHO) recognizes the need within the West Africa sub-region for bilingual professionals who are skilled in public health, management, leadership, and information technology to build human capacity in public health and developed the Young Professionals Internship Program (YPIP). Our study explores the evolution of the programme. [from abstract]

This study was undertaken to assess perceived service quality in hospitals located in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The research was a cross-sectional survey which employed the use of a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire that was administered to 400 outpatients in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Data obtained from the study was analyzed quantitatively using descrip
tive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions. [from abstract]

The Chatham House Working Group on Health Governance was formed to consider, in the first instance, the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the international system that supports global health. This was done in the knowledge that the WHO had recently embarked on a programme of reform, which had its roots in the acute funding pressures that it was experiencing. It was therefore
envisaged as a complementary exercise to the internal reform process. [from preface]

This study investigates patient views of physicians (Medical Officers) and NPCs in terms of patient satisfaction, perceived quality, and provider trust. [from abstract]

Many low and middle-income countries have pluralistic health systems with a variety of providers of health-related goods and services in terms of their level of training, their ownership (public or private) and their relationship with the regulatory system. The development of institutional arrangements to influence their performance has lagged behind the spread of these markets. This paper presents a framework for analysing a pluralistic health system. [adapted from introduction]

This paper addresses indicators of health worker motivation and assesses associations with quality care and patient safety in Ghana. The aim is to identify interventions at the health worker level that contribute to quality improvement in healthcare facilities. [from abstract]

This document argues that the gap left by the public health system combined with a government policy of proactively promoting the private sector has led to the proliferation of private health providers which are unregulated, unaccountable and untrained, causing a serious threat to women’s health. [adapted from author]

The aim of this study was to better understand the quality assurance systems currently utilized in social franchises that deliver private sector health care, and to determine if there are shared standards for practice or quality outcomes that exist across programs. [adapted from abstract]

Within this document is a set of competencies for Europe, a set of professional standards and a proposal for an accreditation system that will work to ensure greater quality, consistency and effectiveness of the health promotion workforce on this continent. The document contains three handbooks: core competencies framework, professional standards and accreditation framework. [adapted from author]

This document deals with the regulation of health care professionals other than doctors to strengthen procedures for ensuring the performance of non-medical health professionals and other health service staff does not pose a threat to patient safety or effective functioning of services, and to ensure effective continuing professional development and appraisal for these staff. [adapated from introduction]

This article describes the African Health Regulatory Collaborative for Nurses and Midwives, a four-year initiative to increase the collaboration among national stakeholders and help strengthen the capacity of health professional regulatory bodies to reform national regulatory frameworks, and discusses its importance in implementing and sustaining national, regional, and global workforce initiatives. [adapted from abstract]

This study attempted to determining personnel’s acceptance of the surgical safety checklist, which reflects their intention to use the checklist, as well as their awareness and knowledge of the checklist which assesses the effectiveness of the training process. [adapted from abstract]

This paper reviews and provides an understanding of the private health sector’s role in low- and middle-income countries and its relationship with the governmental capacity to regulate private providers, in particular, and to act as health system steward, in general. [from abstract]

This article argues that without a comprehensive model for professional nursing practice, nurses cannot reach their potential in transforming health services delivery where it is most needed. [adapted from author]

Few countries require that physicians demonstrate explicitly that they remain fit to practice. The term revalidation is defined as an evaluation of a medical practitioner’s fitness to practise. Although this definition focuses on assessment, it is recognized that the process leading up to it should be formative, encouraging professional development as well as identifying those unfit to practice. [adapted from author]

This presentation discusses the QIQ method of evaluating the quality of service delivery and provider performance.

This field guide is intended to provide some help with the task of improving the delivery of health services using standards of care as the basis for improvement. This guide is designed to answer questions such as: What types of standards are really useful to local providers and mangers? How can they be implemented in a practical way? How can the improvement process be supported?

We reviewed published literature that outlines the principles of quality assurance in higher education from various institutions worldwide. Using this information, we designed a handbook that outlines the quality assurance principles in a simple and practical way. This was intended to enable institutions, even in developing countries, to adapt these principles in accordance with their local resource capacity. We subsequently pilot-tested this handbook at one of the sites in Ghana. [from abstract]

India has traditionally had a bureaucratic approach to regulating its health service. Research suggests that this approach has failed to protect the interests of poor and vulnerable groups and has not gained the trust of providers or the public. So are there any other ways to make India’s health systems more accountable? [from author]

Knowing that quality is never an accident, always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution, and that it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, this abbreviated version of the Policy attempts to provide the strategic direction health facilities and officials need to follow to assure quality in health care and continuous improvement in the care that is being provided. Health care personnel are encouraged to use this copy of the Policy to focus their intentions and guide their efforts. [from foreword].

This study reviews the healthcare literature that examines the effect of financial incentives on the behaviour of healthcare organisations and individuals with respect to the quality of care they deliver to consumers. Its purpose is to provide guidance to policy-makers in government and decision-makers in the private sector in their efforts to improve quality of care through payment reforms. [adapted from summary]

This fact sheet highlights approaches to improving quality of care that can be rapidly implemented, over months rather than years, without great cost. The author writes that better quality can improve health much quicker than other drivers of health, such as economic growth, educational advancement, or new technology. [adapted from introduction]

Family Medicine training and assessment is becoming more formalized and developed in South Africa. Assessment of competency in relation to clinical skills can involve observation in the clinical setting, but is more usually assessed in an examination. Summative assessment of family physician’s clinical skills now usually includes an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Standardisation of the OSCE is required to define the pass mark above which a candidate performs at the level expected of a family physician. [from abstract]

This Self-Assessment Inventory outlines the major areas of competence an effective supervisor must have. The competency areas are sub-divided into categories which correspond to the major functions supervisors perform. Its primary use is as a self-assessment tool. Individuals are encouraged to use it to assess their competence and performance as supervisors and use the results to develop a plan for improvement. This Inventory can also be used as a guide to curriculum development for Supervisory Training, using the components as the basis for a needs assessment exercise. [purpose]

This toolkit explores the nurse/workplace interface, overlapping factors that shape nurses’ work environments, the cost of unhealthy workplaces, and the characteristics and benefits of positive practice environments. A list of recommended actions and tools to help nurses negotiate for improved environments is also included. [from introduction]