Consumer Perspective: Important Attributes of Quality Health Care

“Patient satisfaction is undoubtedly on the minds of hospital administrators in an increasingly consumer-driven healthcare system. With patient

Healthcare is in a constant state of change with movements that impact rates, access and quality of care. Hospitals have become more competitive due to the rising cost of care delivery and the reduction in reimbursement from payers. This causes difficulty in delivering quality care to all patients, which is being measured by mandated patient perception surveys, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). HCAHPS scores are part of value

This paper will describe current quality outcome measures and the significance for improving medical care. Organizational accountability and transparency has improved with the emergence of Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) programs and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPs). This article will review the role of the nurse manager in creating a culture for quality care as well as the nurse for meeting organizational and patient expectations. Organizations like The Joint Commission (JC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and The American Nurses Association (ANA) have been critical in establishing standards for quality. This paper will also report on the most recent hospital statistics and steps taken to improve HCAHP scores and reduce readmission rates at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville (UTMCK). Statistics at UTMCK will also be compared to the Tennessee and National averages found on the Medicare website Hospital Compare. The aim of this paper is to explore if healthcare system initiatives are improving quality and enhancing patient outcomes.

According to Fred Lee (2004) hospitals use clinical results and process improvement as a gauge of quality as this data can be readily measured and objective. Conversely, patients judge the quality of care by individual perception. Therein a gap of what the patient’s perception of quality care and how the healthcare providers perceive quality of care is created. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Gaps Model of Service Quality while comparing the findings of the work done by Fred Lee in the book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 91/2 Things You would Do Differently.

An interesting perspective on the definition of quality which would be interconnected with any managed care plans was highlighted by Carolyn M. Clancy, Director Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a subcommittee hearing to the U.S. Senate. The statement by Carolyn M. Clancy was presented on: March 18th, 2009 when discussing the topic of: What is Health Care Quality and Who Decides?

In years past, the hospital experience has been a big issue when it comes to the quality of healthcare. Most hospitals that don’t meet national standards included lengthy stays, several misjudgments and holes in prevention control. In general they have lacked patient respect, according to medical historians and health care professionals. However, these issues have improved substantially over the years. Because of cultural shifts, policy adjustments, healthcare prices, and technological advances, hospitals have moved toward a more patient based approach that emphasizes the importance of prioritizing prevention in all cases. Patient satisfaction is now a priority in healthcare nationally.

Patients often have a limited knowledge of illness and medicine, yet they desire more control over their healthcare. In many healthcare settings, patient care is inconsistent and "patients' quality of

In conclusion when nursing sensitive indicators are addressed, evaluated, and the appropriate outcomes challenged and changed to meet patient care, quality-nursing care is reached (Fosco, 2012). Protocols are set in place and nurses are educated on how to follow through which benefits the hospital in the long run. Hospitals that are in need of higher patient satisfaction scores should use Press Ganey or comment cards. Striving for higher scores means educating care team staff to follow through on protocols for Braden Scale. Listening to patients and patient family complaints and

Mohammed et al. (2016), “patient experience is one of key domains of value-based purchasing that can serve as a measure of quality and be used to improve the delivery of health services” (p. 12). Therefore it is reasonable to believe involving the patient and their family in decision making and including them as active members in the health care team would produce greater satisfaction and subsequently higher quality care.

An advanced practice nurse with years of experience, Dr.Joanne Duffy, DNSc, RN,CCRN, created a quality-nursing care model which has been adopted by many institutions and incorporated into the practices of all of their registered nurses. The quality-nurse care model is a map of processes for making more strategic client based choices in healthcare systems. It encompasses principles on caring values, attitudes, and behaviors, and establishes the relationship between the nurse and the patient as

Patient’s perception of her/his care in a hospital is an important indicator of the quality of healthcare services (CIHI, 2007, P. 22), also, it is a realistic tool to help meet patient’s expectations, reduce costs, develop and enhance strategic decision making, monitor healthcare performance and improve the quality of care (Al-Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014). Patient’s survey is used to gather information about the rate of their satisfaction during hospitalization period

In this research, 33.4% indicated that cost concerns have an impact in providing quality care, and one of four (25.3%) did not experience that they could make clinical conclusions without cost pressures. Greater levels of practice autonomy, ethics confidence, ethics preparedness, and physician cooperation was significantly associated with better understanding of quality care. Nevertheless, 31.6% of respondents described feeling overcome by the demands of their patients, and 40.8% reported patient relationships as becoming more opposed than they used to be. In general, those respondents who outlined higher patient demands (such as patients requesting unnecessary treatments and adversarial patient relationships) in their practice also given under quality care.

The provision of quality and affordable patient care is a challenging aspect because of the complexities of health care organizations and its systems. Health care organizations accrues challenges in delivery, accessibility, financing, determining the outcome of health care services, organization pricing and in making decisions for health related issues. As such, this has increased public dissatisfaction in the provision of health care service in America.

Inadequate nursing care can be a result of staffing issues or under educated nurses. Errors can be made that not only affect the patient’s well-being, but can affect the financial standing of a hospital. This paper will describe a business case for quality by discussing the current situation in need of change, the proposed program, a market analysis, an implementation plan, a timeline for implementation, and an evaluation plan, including relevant financial data of the proposed program.

The quality of health care provided in the United States varies among hospitals, cities, and states. For a consumer, good quality means providing patients with appropriate services in a technically advanced setting, with good communication, shared decision-making, and cultural sensitivity (Schuster, McGlynn, & Brook, 2005). Therefore, it is very important for both the consumers and the providers to have an easy assess to information on quality for their organizations. If this information is made available regularly and in an interpretable form, consumers can also use it to make informed decisions when choosing among providers and plans, which will in turn give providers an incentive to improve quality. Here are some non-profit organizations that are known for their efforts made in various sectors of the United States primarily for quality assurance and improvement such as National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Joint Commission, Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).