International journal of health care quality assurance
-
Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2015
Multicenter StudyCustomer perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in Indian private healthcare.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how perceived service quality and customer satisfaction lead to loyalty towards healthcare service providers. ⋯ This paper will help healthcare managers and service providers to analyse customer perceptions and their loyalty towards Indian private healthcare services.
-
Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2015
National early warning score (NEWS) - evaluation in surgery.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate staff opinion on the impact of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) system on surgical wards. In 2012, the NEWS system was introduced to Irish hospitals on a phased basis as part of a national clinical programme in acute care. ⋯ Appropriate audit of the impact of the NEWS system on patient outcome may be pertinent to obtain the support from senior doctors. Deficiencies with the system were also observed including the absence of a rapid response team as part of the escalation protocol and a lack of concordance of the NEWS in patients Day zero post-operatively. These issues should be addressed moving forward.
-
The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of how patient deterioration is detected and how clinical care escalates when early warning score (EWS) systems are used. ⋯ The paper raises the EWS debate and alerts EWS users that scrutiny is required.
-
Lean and Six Sigma are continuous improvement methodologies that have garnered international fame for improving manufacturing and service processes. Increasingly these methodologies are demonstrating their power to also improve healthcare processes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a case study for the application of Lean and Six Sigma tools in the reduction of turnaround time (TAT) for Emergency Department (ED) specimens. This application of the scientific methodologies uncovered opportunities to improve the entire ED to lab system for the specimens. ⋯ While this is not the first case study that has demonstrated the use of continuous process improvement methodologies to improve a hospital process, it is unique in the way in which it utilizes the strength of the project focussed approach that adheres more to the structure and rigor of Six Sigma and relied less on the speed of lean. Additionally, the application of these methodologies in healthcare is emerging research.
-
The current trend in Big Data analytics and in particular health information technology is toward building sophisticated models, methods and tools for business, operational and clinical intelligence. However, the critical issue of data quality required for these models is not getting the attention it deserves. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues of data quality in the context of Big Data health care analytics. ⋯ Today, data quality issues are diagnosed and addressed in a piece-meal fashion. The authors recommend a data lifecycle approach and provide a road map, that is more appropriate with the dimensions of Big Data and fits different stages in the analytical workflow.