Optimizing oncological services quality in Palestinian governmental hospitals: A Six Sigma approach from the Perspective of hospital administration رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

The current study aims to assess the quality of the oncological services applied by the oncological departments in the governmental hospitals in Palestine and to utilize Six Sigma tools to improve the quality of such services. To this end, the study used descriptive and analytical approaches that are appropriate for the aim of the study. More specifically, the quantitative and qualitative methods have been used to collect the needed comprehensive data from the administrators of governmental hospitals' perspectives via a questionnaire. The study utilized primary and secondary data; the primary data included five governmental hospitals in three districts (north, middle, and south) that apply oncological management. On the other hand, the secondary data was based on reviewing the medical referral reports of all Cancer patients who have been referred outside the Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities as a result of drug shortage between the period of 1st of January 2023, and 31st of December 2023. A random sampling technique was adopted to gather the needed information from the cancer patients at the Service Purchase Unit of the MoH. In total, 379 medical reports were chosen to be reviewed. The analysis of the gathered data was conducted by SPSS 26. The results revealed that some of the Six Sigma tools have been applied in governmental hospitals. More specifically, concerning the define-measure-analyze-improve and control (DMAIC) components, definition, analysis, and improvement dimensions were found to be applied very well, while the measurement and control elements of DMAIC came out in a moderate appliance.