A unified approach assessing Hospitals' Quality and Patient Safety Compliance at organizational and national level using an evidence-based Mapping Tool.

BACKGROUND

According to the World Health Organization, the situational analysis process that establishes the current "state of quality" of a country's health system, is the foundational step to identifying the strategic directions of a National Quality Program for Quality of Care. This analysis that assesses relevant priorities, challenges, capacities, governance structures, and available resources, provides the basis for designing and implementing the appropriate program to support healthcare quality and patient safety improvements. Although there is a number of international standards related to quality and safety control, there is an undeniable need identified for a pragmatic method, incorporating clinical aspects, to determine the minimum required criteria for quality assurance and patient safety. This paper describes the development of a compliance assessment framework for quality and patient safety using a novel methodology covering also country-specific criteria to be utilized at an organizational and national level as a situational analysis tool.

METHODS

This study outlines the methodology for the development of the Mapping tool for Quality and Patient Safety (MaQPS) and its implementation as a unified framework for assessing quality and patient safety compliance in hospital settings. The criteria integrated within the tool are reference-based and derive from European and national legislation, international patient safety standards as defined by international authoritative organizations (e.g. the World Health Organization), and scientific associations' guidelines. Furthermore, the study presents the validation process including the applied case studies that were used to evaluate functionality, contextual relevance and scalability of the tool.

RESULTS

The Mapping tool for Quality and Patient Safety compliance tool (MaQPS) and its design methodology differ from most approaches to healthcare assessment sets of criteria, as this instrument incorporates patient safety and clinical aspects within a quality assessment framework. The tool provides a systematic approach and a practical and traceable pathway, for identifying gaps and, facilitate benchmarking among healthcare providers. Additionally, it is a unique approach to enable evidence-based decision making in the field of national quality policies in healthcare.

CONCLUSION

While standardization and third-party inspections enhance quality improvement processes and clinical outcomes, many health systems face significant challenges in treating healthcare needs effectively with qualitative results and positive clinical outcomes. The adoption of MaQPS as a decision-support tool will acquaint health systems with the structured knowledge to build up effective quality and safety national policies in the delivery of care.