Performance Measures in Public Health

This is a brief introduction to developing good performance measures in public health.

Quality Improvement in Healthcare

This short video explain the short concepts of healthcare quality improvement and main ideas used for getting new innovative unique improvements. 

Comparing Health Care Quality: A Road Map to Better Care

An important step toward improving the quality of health care in any community is to understand how good the care is. That's why performance measurement and public reporting are key to Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q).

Performance measurement of healthcare systems

In order to measure the performance of the medical system whether with single clinic, polyclinic or larger hospital, there are two parameters should be achieved and taken in account. At beginning making as possible performance measures at macro level; that would open wide opportunity to exaggerate the degree of focusing and examination and facilitate the process of measurement. Secondary; unite integration among operating unites and how far other unites pattern soundly work in good adaptable figure. Sound healthcare system should have several distinct organizational unite with integral levels of performances. If the operating unites scattered and could not achieve those parameters, the process of assessment and performance measurement will not be going intact way as been expected. The macro level of organization composed of numerous operating unites supposed compatible together to get work harmony, each working unites owns some dimensions of performance and reflect legal, physical and functional directives. Management members and head offices should work to do adjustment what give properly end results entirely.

 Management and CEO should accountable for achieving separate unites objects and intact steadily operation pathway without any setbacks and deviations. The role of management is must and essential, without whole and most of plans difficult to be in order as usual. The balance between finance resources and allocation of them and what introduced to the patient put the entire distribution equation in adequate degree of correction and readjustment.

Finances are considered the real mirror for most of organizational activities even in health domain and may some saying is not business entity and the reality is any healthcare firm should be deal as a business to detect the operation and working defects as fast as we can to avoid direct delivery deformed services harm patient heath. Patient satisfaction survey and monitoring regularly can give you  stunning results and detect human origin mistakes earlier, patient ready to provide you with full different sorts of feedback, actually they always wait to whom listen to their demands and requirements. That will help management team to identify the real problems and origin with what available possibilities to find solution in most limited time.

Most of healthcare providers give less interest to patient opinions and feedback and they look at them as if they are only receiver for what provider offers. Honestly if policy makers know how much they can give future ideas for improvements and open new opportunities to create new services and cover most of health demands with enhancement in revenues and decrease time consumed, they will never think that way again.

Third category should be examined, health plans and if these plans matching with general society welfare and state health policy or not. Plans in health domain differ according to what development needed and each must in compile with government health policy to be accredited for implementation, this point is more political rather than be discussed in our post. Plans on the level of health providers running with needs and requirements of people services, it means significant organizational components set group of work plans serve the internal needs for medical workers and end patients on the same level. When these plans defeat to make this balance between patient and involved employees, that create wide gap between management and patient, thus services quality start deviated according to worker abilities and wants not meet patient ask.

Beyond that, there are efficiency measures as cost per month or medical loss ratio; these factors determine level of performance toward service depending on cost and losses and from other hand review the possibilities to increase the amount of funds and expenditures to reach quality society standards. Ultimately, inpatient unites or clinical services declare the human factor engineering between equipments and medical workers and also between them and patients from other side. I wish all you health and happinessJ

History of performance measures in healthcare

In this post we discuss performance measures, health plans for hospitals and review some design consideration tools and clues could be better for improvement. In order to study health systems, terminology, analysis and performance measurement, could identify preliminary objects and work future targets. In other meaning that why exactly we should study and know within health system components and their performance and what are the reasons pushing to spend months in process of analysis of work patterns and do a lot of predictions supposed associated to get and find proper solutions. First, it could be to identify the problems and setbacks that affect directly or indirectly end value or results and interrupt the channel delivery process. Secondly, doing the process of determination to different sort of working performance and level  of compatibility between systems ability and degree of paid investment and performance sufficiently to do delivery of end medical values.

No one can be sure from system performances even with high technology standards were implemented in certain system thereafter the process of assessments, monitoring and end evaluation create some sort of performance thereof. Measuring performance in not new technique to assess the whole work figure and tasks achieved, there are many parameters, indicators prove and show the level of performance of any working system whether that within medical domain or other industrial fields. The number of measurements, nature of implementation, execution methods put different mode of received results, in which declare the capability link between systems and its performances.

There is no fixed result in process of analysis, and well known NO constant in medical sciences, depending on your working parameters, directives, plans, working schedules and the possibilities would be determined clearly. We are briefly going to review some historical glances related to performance methodologies and explain how much greatly carries direct affect plans of improvement, development and investment forwardly.

The history of performance measurement started far back since the middle of 19^th Century; Ms. Florence Nightingale. She was concern about sanitary conditions of hospitals in the Crimean War and in London. In that time; she was working to develop elaborate data collections, statistical analysis with 1^st focusing on morbidity versus mortality rates and numbers. As a fact tools and equipments were not much fit than our present but she intelligent enough to start one step in long road of medical health informatics.

Dr. Amory Codman, a Boston surgeon, extended these ideas in a crusade for public reporting of hospital mortality data in the Boston area for a period of several years between 1914 and 1920. He developed recoding system for his surgeries and tracking patients improvements act as registry of morbidity and mortality rates. He also categorize the patient complains regarding done operations and whether that closely touched his work or produced from other associated medical services. While that system did not be accepted from colleagues, he founded his own hospital depending on end result concept.

In 1988, Dr. Paul Ellwood issued a call for a national program named “Outcomes Management.” his vision covered not only specific hospitals but exceed other entities too in order to the heavily concept of provider accountability toward patients and around society. His project been exceeded morbidity/ mortality ratio and working with health status, records and statistics of patient value equation. Diversified resources and sorts carried out of medical data including for instance; outcome records, clinical records, services received, demographical distribution of available services with populations. This diversity open bigger gate for research and information management concepts and awareness impact, without past seeds were not the present contextual meaning of data importance in medical careers. I wish all you health and happinessJ

Healthcare system analyst responsibilities

Medical analytical job is unique performance job, with those wanted to do, it should have some mind features enable to do the job efficiently. The multiple roles sometimes involved in the same job title with branched tasks. Though many would like to share this job, but on ground many of burdens on waiting them within. No matter how much you were studied or how level your theoretical knowledge is, the key here how sensitive you are toward work problems and associated complicated matters nearly you meet during working sequences, in order to find new solutions. Some do trials to be fit analysis worker and neglect essential side of job, such as your personal skills and how far you sensitive with problems and level of mind articulations in case of multi cascade deterioration.

  System analysis and setback investigation it looks like detective job almost, must be different pathway of thinking and methodology deductions of each problem with giving proper acceptable working solutions. Therefore, doing adequate coverage to many parties; medical workers, nurses, IT team, system itself and end value client receivers, is the end effort of this job. Moreover, the adaptability of work mode to find flexible solutions reflect the high degree of analysis skills closer more to find innovative new surprises.

Analysts are grouped into the following categories of expertise:

·         Analytic Methodologists develop and apply new or established approaches to analysis — such as statistical, polling, econometric, mathematical, or modeling methodologies.

·         Counterintelligence Threat Analysts collect, study, and interpret a range of reports to identify and prevent foreign intelligence operations.

·         Counterterrorism Analysts help warn of terrorist threats by assessing the leadership, motivations, plans, and intentions of foreign terrorist groups and their state and non-state sponsors.

·         Economic Analysts use their specialized skills to analyze and interpret economic trends and developments, assess and track foreign financial activities, and develop new econometric methods.

·         Medical and Health Analysts are physicians who analyze and assess global health issues, such as disease outbreaks, and who follow the health of foreign leaders.

·         Open Source/Foreign Media Analysts apply foreign language, area knowledge, and subject matter expertise in a collaborative environment to review and assess foreign based websites, social media and traditional press sources to identify trends, patterns and relationships.

·         Psychological and Psychiatric Analysts tap their expertise in psychology, psychiatry, or sociology to study the health of foreign officials and to assess the psychological and social factors that influence world events.

·         Science & Technology Analysts use their unique technical and scientific knowledge to identify and analyze chemicals, biological harms, information welfare; computer systems; and energy security.

·         Targeting Analysts use network analysis techniques and specialized analytical tools to identify and detail key figures and organizations.

These are some example of roles involved different analyst job responsibilities according to their role and job descriptions. The role actually is more than what is written but it was just a hint for readers. The effort team paid is not in vain, they use all monitoring abilities, gathered data in order to dig new route uncover productive solutions. The moment you are catching the possible solution for persistent problem, it the same moment will discover how much good to be analyst and solve medical problems of health systems serving people in need to your valuable solution. I wish all you health and happinessJ

The key to understand healthcare systems

Actually, there are many articles talking about medical terms and system analysis in the time they are not all of them own proper accuracy but at least they trying to build medical awareness toward our society. We cal learn and study and the way we had understood terminology is considered the key in process of learning and implementation later. It means as much as you got clear explainable understanding, that serve us in our work and the way we going to use those terms and theoretical sciences we had got.

There is no matter how much valuable about data and information should be introduced, subconscious feelings form different awareness way and numerous level of decoding to data we got. Also in order to measure the level of understanding, better to determine the different way of learning and how far that suitable to aimed learners segment. the process of understanding particularly in analysis procedures dependable on the final end result awaited from working team, for sure it differ physiologically among human kind in general but all level of analytical information must be in contextual meaning of work objects. It means focusing much on level of understanding among team members is not demandable as how supposed to positioning data they got.

All may be agree in certain points and disagree in other ones but regarding the awareness learning process that known undoubtedly differs according to individual skills level and abilities integration, performance and effort paid in whole process of analysis but we title that positioning of gathered data in order to serve our analytical goals significantly important reflecting team professionalism and high standards of analytical skills. Moreover, reduce work risks, enhance performance standards, identifying weak points are main guidelines for improvement and system analysis.

Next axis, a clue to get more understanding and seek deeply about system involved mistakes; the liability figure of terms use going beyond adequate implementation strategy with positioning to known data to reach solutions of current problems. Accountability usage necessary exceedingly in this stage therein. Positioning means you use your know, data, information, previous studies or experiments and any other tools to reach your work objects, targets and aims without induce any additional burden retard the performance later. Through address your knowledge to identify risks, assessment, pattern, synchronization of daily system tasks. Amount of data varies according to your working unite whether IT, image archiving, digital prescription platform, ..etc all of them need different modified way of positing care about fast respectable correction.

Geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) has been widely used as an accuracy metric for navigation and tracking systems. This measurement determines the relationship between mobile device and measuring points which is essential feature for geometric determination of measuring positioning system performance. GDOP is adaptable accurate measurement help to give adequate express and precise view about numerous system unites integration with level of soundness herein.

One more time remind readers that analytical capabilities differ among analysis team and that explain why time of entirely graded from system to another. Amount of data available from medical workers facilitate and extremely shorten the time need for correction and evaluation. Also flexibility of the members with work atmosphere and their reaction to the variances of provided data and how they use these data in positive way even if the pattern was negatively at present. I wish all you full of healthJ