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1 – 2 of 2Fauziah Rabbani, Farah Naz Hashmani, Aftab A Ali Mukhi, Xaher Gul, Nousheen Pradhan, Peter Hatcher, Mounir Farag and Farhat Abbas
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office has emphasized health system strengthening among the top five strategic priorities. One of the integral elements of health systems…
Abstract
Purpose
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office has emphasized health system strengthening among the top five strategic priorities. One of the integral elements of health systems are the hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to review the need for formalized training in hospital management to improve the quality of care.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review and hands on experience of conducting a regional training in hospital management for Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries.
Findings
Majority of patients in EMR bypass Primary Health Care facilities due to inadequate quality of services and prefer seeking specialized care at a tertiary level. There is mounting evidence of mediocre to poor patient satisfaction due to inefficient health care practices in hospitals of EMR. Strengthening the management capacity of the hospitals through a formal training programme is therefore necessary for improving the performance of health care delivery and the overall health system. Hospital management encompasses hospital planning and operational activities including development and implementation of organizational strategies to ensure adequate numbers and quality of trained human resources and effective financial management, disaster management, health management information system utilization, support services, biomedical engineering, transport and waste management. Such training will prepare health care professionals with leadership skills to deliver quality hospital services.
Originality/value
This is one of the first papers emphasizing the need for a formal structured regional training in hospital management for the countries of EMR. A modular incremental training approach developing an EMR Credit Transfer and Accumulation system is proposed.
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Keywords
Fauziah Rabbani, Nousheen Akber Pradhan, Shehla Zaidi, Syed Iqbal Azam and Farheen Yousuf
The purpose of this paper is to explore the readiness of contracted and non-contracted first-level healthcare facilities in Pakistan to deliver quality maternal and neonatal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the readiness of contracted and non-contracted first-level healthcare facilities in Pakistan to deliver quality maternal and neonatal health (MNH) care. A balanced scorecard (BSC) was used as the assessment framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross-sectional study design, two rural health centers (RHCs) contracted out to Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan were compared with four government managed RHCs. A BSC was designed to assess RHC readiness to deliver good quality MNH care. In total 20 indicators were developed, representing five BSC domains: health facility functionality, service provision, staff capacity, staff and patient satisfaction. Validated data collection tools were used to collect information. Pearson χ2, Fisher’s Exact and the Mann-Whitney tests were applied as appropriate to detect significant service quality differences among the two facilities.
Findings
Contracted facilities were generally found to be better than non-contracted facilities in all five BSC domains. Patients’ inclination for facility-based delivery at contracted facilities was, however, significantly higher than non-contracted facilities (80 percent contracted vs 43 percent non-contracted, p=0.006).
Practical implications
The study shows that contracting out initiatives have the potential to improve MNH care.
Originality/value
This is the first study to compare MNH service delivery quality across contracted and non-contracted facilities using BSC as the assessment framework.
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