Assessing the Gap in Policies of Human Resources, Quality and Communication for Indian Teaching Hospitals.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Teaching hospital is one of the apex bodies of Indian hospital system, which is catering to much desired healthcare needs of both rural and poor urban society. Objectives: The study examines the status of Indian teaching hospitals both government and private in the changing global scenario by assessing the gaps in their management practices based on three core parameters, i.e. human resource management, quality improvement and patient safety, and communication and patient relation through their adherence to documentation and policy with respect to the expected norms nationally and internationally. The standards were chosen from Joint Commission of International Accreditation (JCIA) in concurrence with National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) to ensure comprehensiveness and appropriateness to Indian environment. Design and settings Eleven teaching hospitals were selected from the 6 divisions of Maharashtra (minimum 1 from smaller division and 2 or above from larger division). The medical superintendent was interviewed from each 11 hospital. The responses were given scores, such as 10, 5, 0 (full, partial, no compliance). Results: The overall scores for policy/documentation were 6.29 ± 1.96, 5.00 ± 3.06 and 2.95 ± 2.48 for HRM, quality and communication respectively, among teaching hospitals. Moreover, there were significant gaps among all 6 standards of human resource management (HRM) [F(5,60) = 24.217, p < 0.001], quality/ safety [F(5,60) = 21.524, p < 0.05] and communication [F(10,55) = 10.455; p < 0.05] on their own. Indeed, these hospitals were found to be significantly behind the global standards. Conclusion: Teaching hospitals comply with norms of staff, qualifications and department-wise infrastructure as part of Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations, which is prerequisite for global standards. So by designing hospital’s policies with inclusion of some cost-effective approaches, these hospitals can attain quality services.