THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF HEALTHCARE IN THE FUTURE
Abstract
A Health Care Organization (HCO) is inherently a complicated entity due to the intangible nature of its services and the diversity of its professional staff. Quality management in healthcare is an essential necessity within the health sector. Principles of quality have consistently existed in healthcare. Nonetheless, quality is not a tangible attribute of a service. The terminology "Health Care Service" instead of "Medical Care" delineates the domain and establishes it as a subject for evaluation, oversight, and enhancement. A high-quality healthcare system is "accessible, appropriate, available, affordable, effective, efficient, integrated, safe, and centered on the patient." Professionals in allied health services, dentistry, midwifery, obstetrics, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, psychology, and other healthcare disciplines deliver health care.
Quality management in healthcare is an expansive notion. It was previously seen as instructing healthcare staff on their actions. Nonetheless, its present connotation is to oversee the care process. It pertains to perceiving organizational functions as a disordered array of procedures and processes that can be tackled both separately and collectively. Although numerous models have been suggested, Donabedian's triad of structure, method, and outcome continues to underpin contemporary quality evaluation.
Quality management has become increasingly imperative due to the revised definition of quality, which encompasses patient happiness as a service result. The caliber of services offered to patients is paramount. The conventional perspective on quality control emphasized fault detection, but the contemporary approach prioritizes defect prevention, ongoing process enhancement, and an outcome-oriented system informed by patient demands. Consequently, an immediate necessity exists to implement a paradigm shift in the quality of health care delivery. The authorities must proactively engage in quality assurance. At now, quality is receiving greater attention in the medical sector compared to associated sectors such as dentistry and nursing, particularly in developing nations.
