Ποιότητα στην υγεία : ο στρατηγικός ρόλος της για την αποτελεσματικότητα του συστήματος
Quality in health care : the strategic role of quality for the effectiveness of the system
Subject
Υγεία ; Υπηρεσίες υγείας ; Διασφάλιση ποιότητας ; Health services ; Quality assuranceKeywords
Κύκλοι ποιότητας ; Αξιολόγηση ; Quality circles ; EvaluationAbstract
Quality is recognized internationally as a dynamic factor in the development of businesses and organizations.
In the industrial production line, quality control methods had already been in use since the 1930s while quality assurance in the healthcare field, in the sense of the best available care to the patient, arose in late 1970s.
Health care quality refers to both technical and scientific competence as well as building infrastructure and is associated with patients’ satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency and cost control.
Assessing health care quality also requires the development and application of performance measures for system structure, procedures and outcomes.
In the last five years, the economic crisis and the austerity programs that followed it, including reduction of public expenditure, had a dramatic impact in health care quality in most European countries.
In Greece, the demand and use of public health services has increased as the decline in disposable income shifted consumption to health services which have insurance coverage. This means that respectively, pressures for efficiency of health system are increasing.
This paper describes the concept of health care quality, outlines its political and economic aspect, looks at the need to continually improve health care quality assessment methods and use outcome data to improve health care systems.