Healthcare Providers' Perception towards the Effect of Publishing Hospital Performance Report on Quality Improvement رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

The Research aimed to answer the research questions related to the impact of publicizing hospital performance on quality improvement, and how publication affected the hospital quality image from the respondents’ perspectives, first-line managers (head of departments), quality managers, and quality officers. Furthermore, the research aimed to provide a detailed elucidation about the contributions of publicizing hospital performance on the quality improvement of healthcare providers from quality managers and Middle Management’s point of view. The Research relied on the descriptive approach and quantitative research methodology through obtaining data from books, publication journals, reports and past researches on the same topic while a questionnaire for collecting primary data was developed and adopted by the researcher depending on previous literature, and the analysis of survey respondents using SPSS program. The research population consisted of all Quality Managers, Quality Officers and first line Managers of the health services departments, who belong to (51) hospitals ranging from government, private and nonprofit hospitals in the West Bank under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The sample was selected by using a proportion stratified technique, the sample consisted of 150 Quality Managers, Quality Officers and first line Managers in Hebron and Ramallah hospitals who were chosen randomly, 120 Questionnaires were returned making the response rate equals (80%). The analysis of the research variables was done through (Means and Frequencies, One-Way-ANOVA test, independent T-Test, Tukey-test, and The Kruskal-Wallis Test Analysis). VI The research achieved a number of outcomes, including the Palestinian hospitals still do not measure their performance by collecting and presenting data related to performance indicators. In addition it shows that Palestinian hospitals still do not publish their own performance reports to be accessible to the public. The research also found that the publication of healthcare performance reports affects the quality system through: better understanding of quality concepts within hospitals, as well as increasing the hospitals intent to provide the best possible service with the best quality provided to maintain their image to the public. The hospitals have to avoid medical errors and pay attention to prevent any mistakes in dealing and providing service to patients to maintain their reputation. Moreover, there is an increase in hospitals’ competition in order to provide better services. The research recommends healthcare providers to follow an international health quality systems’ standards to prepare their Performance indicators and reports, while it recommends working on preparing their own reports to contain three types of information : patients’ satisfaction from the services that are being delivered, the results of the services provided, and performance indicators assessment results. Healthcare providers need to consider the differences in the performance indicators according to the services provided in each hospital and its specialties as well.