PART II
Excellence wins in healthcare
Healthcare continues to provide hospitals with the latest and greatest methods for how to improve patient-centered care; it is of the utmost importance for healthcare providers (HCPs) across the UT to stay on top of the newest hospital improvement ideas that could solve some of their biggest pain points in how to improve patient care and progress even further.
Is Healthcare A Right In India?
Right to health is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Right to health includes affordable treatment. For achieving the healthcare-for-all dream, Healthcare policy planners need to revisit the Challenges, Priorities, And the Road Ahead.
The Successes and Drawbacks of India’s Healthcare System
Healthcare has risen to become a desperate need today. The Covid-19 Pandemic has had hospitals and healthcare providers, across the globe, stress-ridden for over 2 years. This calls for a critical look at our healthcare system to celebrate its successes and feed its deficiencies. Most government hospitals and clinics across the country may be a shabby sight. But for the poor, they are the only affordable medical treatment option available. Yet, most of the poor prefer to borrow and go to private health centers, as revealed by the findings of the National Family Health Survey.
Patient expectations from healthcare
Patients don’t want more or less care; they visit hospitals primarily to address their healthcare concerns to receive appropriate treatment at the right time, from the right people through right methods. While hospitals are not designed to provide luxury accommodations like four-star hotels, patients do have certain expectations regarding the care they receive. These expectations include:
- Proper Diagnosis: Patients expect healthcare professionals to accurately diagnose their medical condition. They want to understand the cause of their symptoms and receive a clear explanation of their diagnosis.
- Effective Treatment: Patients anticipate receiving the appropriate treatment for their condition. This includes receiving the right medications, therapies, surgeries, or other interventions necessary to address their healthcare needs.
- Timely Care: Patients expect to receive treatment in a timely manner. They hope to have their healthcare concerns addressed promptly to prevent further deterioration of their condition or alleviate their symptoms.
- Skilled and Knowledgeable Staff: Patients want to be cared for by competent healthcare professionals who possess the necessary skills and knowledge to provide effective treatment. They expect doctors, nurses, and other staff members to be experienced and well-trained in their respective fields.
- Clear Communication: Patients desire clear and open communication with their healthcare providers. They expect doctors and nurses to explain their condition, treatment options, potential risks and benefits, and any necessary lifestyle changes or precautions in a way that is easily understandable.
- Compassion and Empathy: Patients hope to be treated with compassion and empathy throughout their healthcare journey. They want healthcare professionals to listen to their concerns, address their fears or anxieties, and provide emotional support during difficult times.
- Clean and Safe Environment: While hospitals may not provide luxurious amenities like hotels, patients do expect a clean and safe environment. They want hospitals to maintain high hygiene standards to prevent the spread of infections and ensure their safety during their stay..
Why do I feel anxious and panicky when visiting a hospital?
An intriguing question which haunts me often. Every day, thousands of Valleyities receive health care that helps to maintain or restore their health. A visit to a hospital is often viewed with great anxiety. Where do things go wrong? How dissatisfied patients respond to poor service quality? Many patients are concerned that the care delivered is not, essentially, the standardized one they deserve. It is not Nosocomephobia (Fear of Hospitals) a type of anxiety disorder related to other fears associated with hospital milieu. But the fear I am talking today is different, what we (have not) learned in healthcare service failure how to address issues like; (1) Deficient infrastructure (protocols & processes of provision of care), junked and non-operational tools, diagnostic or therapeutic modalities not up to date (2) Non-availability of specialists or lack of skilled professional manpower (3) Unmanageable patient load (4) Equivocal quality of services & essential safety requirements (5) Non-availability of essential medicines & high out of pocket expenditure on cancer drugs (6) Long stay in queues, waiting times, appointments compounded with “sufarish” or VIP preferential culture.
While assessing Health Care Quality from the Patient’s Perspective–beyond Pads, pens, prescriptions. It’s not just political correctness. It’s good medicine. To achieve the improvement in the quality of medical care: building bridges among professional pride and patient satisfaction –All need vision and health care reforms and above all a human touch. To achieve success in this mission, we need honesty and facts, bold statements. Not fear and half-truths –with your own organization, abiding by the “praise in public, criticise in private” philosophy can help contribute to a smooth sailing ship, but there are times when you can invoke the family clause with integrity. A healthcare facility where patients expect to receive treatment filled with expectation, hope, and empathetic healing, patient dissatisfaction arises when patients perceive that the service is insufficient, unsatisfactory, not up to standard or worse .Poor hospital conditions and system of delivering care is an increasing problem in India. Reflecting the need for urgent action, under public and media outcry, on the high rate of Mortality and Morbidity in our public hospitals, FMEA – Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, is not used as tool to improve the system for fundamental change to close the gaps, which describes a fragmented and inefficient system of healthcare leadership, clinical governance and accountability posing many risks that are preventable.
What makes a good hospital?
Different people have different perceptions about this grading. Expectations, with reference to healthcare, refer to the anticipation or the belief about what is to be encountered in a consultation or utilizing services in the healthcare system. It is the mental picture that patients or the public will have of the process of interaction with the hospital system. Patients come to a consultation with expectations which they may or may not be overtly aware of. These expectations may be openly presented in the system, or the physician may have to attempt to elicit them. Reactions to unmet expectations can range from disappointment to anger. Exploring patients’ expectations is crucial for improving delivery of healthcare of the highest quality. Every patient who comes for consultation has expectations based on his understanding of the illness, health beliefs, attitudes, tall claims on the services available made by healthcare leaders and managers in the media. The price healthcare providers and hospitals have to pay for dissatisfied patients is indeed high, thus the investment of some time to understand this issue is certainly worth the while. Some of the general expectations of patients include: the need to be listened to, the need to receive clear explanation and instructions about their condition, to be treated by staff who show care/concern/compassion and to be treated by staff who are professional in their work.
As a QPS (Quality & Patient Safety) healthcare standards expert and accreditation surveyor when we inspect hospitals for compliance on KPIS (Key performance indicators), there are five questions we ask. Is it safe? Is it effective? Are its caring processes standardized? Is it responsive to people’s needs? Is it well-led? Patient satisfaction (experience) is on the top of our assessment and considered as the strongest KPI, indicator of good performance of your hospital. On KPI’s I am confronted with a problem in our local HCOs. Is the medical care provided by our healthcare staff in accordance with any standards (benchmark)? Are any evidence-based consensus statements, protocols or clinical practice guidelines followed? These questions show two sides of the definition of the standard of care in the medical setting. In quality terms, a standard of care is used as the benchmark against a healthcare provider’s actual work.
Choosing a good hospital for yourself or your dear one
A formidable task. Time and again we hear of the importance of provision of quality of care in our hospitals. However, what everyone needs to know is that quality of care and adherence to safety practices while delivering care goes beyond simply ensuring our patients get the proper level of help, guidance when they’re in our facilities. Because as we all know, low-quality healthcare causes great human suffering, workplace-related health impairments, injuries and illnesses and incur high costs, both for those affected and for society. In the long-term costs not only time and money, but precious limbs or lives too.
Best practices for boosting patient satisfaction involve small changes that save lives. Guide to prevention of harm and good practice in the healthcare sector aims at improving health and safety standards in health institutions through compliance on Key Performance Indicators. What can’t be measured can’t be managed, KPI‘s in healthcare are specific and measurable elements of practice that can be used to assess quality and safety of care.
It’s time for a fundamentally new strategy
Do not only criticize, suggest viable solutions and professional remedies. While there are many challenges in healthcare, I present five “A’s” for our consideration:
- Awareness or the lack of it.
- Access or the lack of it.
- Absence or the human power crisis in healthcare.
- Affordability or the cost of healthcare.
- Accountability or the lack of it.
Do it Right, the First Time, Every Time
This definition of Quality, as it relates to patient health care, is conformance to the established requirements or standard of any organization. Unfortunately, the value of these indispensable ideals we appreciate only when you or your loved one is amid a severe illness. Patient centered care (PCC) is an approach gaining much emphasis these days. It is one where we consciously adopt patients’ perspectives and mainstream them into all aspects of the healthcare system and its related processes. It involves navigating the healthcare system through patients’ eyes. PCC represents customized patient care, viewed as a commitment to treat, and manage patients as thinking and feeling persons with the ability to change and develop. It requires healthcare personnel to be open, flexible, and respectful in the provision of all aspects of care. It is also a partnership between patients and their healthcare providers. PCC is alignment with the 21st century, modern patients who are increasingly asking to be partners in their own care, highlighting also, ownership of their health, and healthcare.
(To be continued….)
(The Author is a Certified Qualified Professional in Quality Healthcare Policy Planning and has worked as Director Total Quality management & team leader with national and international accreditation Bodies like JCI- CBAH_ NABH: GE healthcare international can be reached at [email protected])
