Subject(s)
Health Facility Environment/standards , Hospitals, Convalescent/organization & administration , Professional-Patient Relations , Quality Assurance, Health Care/organization & administration , California , Hospitals, Convalescent/standards , Humans , Organizational Case Studies , Organizational Culture , Personnel Staffing and Scheduling , Quality Assurance, Health Care/methods , Quality Assurance, Health Care/standardsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The regulations of the Quality Management System (QMS) implementation in health care organizations were approved by the Lithuanian Ministry of Health in 1998. Following the above regulations, general managers of health care organizations had to initiate the QMS implementation in hospitals. As no research on the QMS implementation has been carried out in Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals since, the objective of this study is to assess its current stage from a managerial perspective. METHODS: A questionnaire survey of general managers of Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals was carried out in the period of January through March 2005. Majority of the items included in the questionnaire were measured on a seven-point Likert scale. During the survey, a total of 72 questionnaires was distributed, out of which 58 filled-in ones were returned (response rate 80.6 per cent; standard sampling error 0.029 at 95 per cent level of confidence). RESULTS: Quality Management Systems were found operating in 39.7 per cent of support treatment and nursing hospitals and currently under implementation in 46.6 per cent of hospitals (13.7% still do not have it). The mean of the respondents' perceived QMS significance is 5.8 (on a seven-point scale). The most critical issues related to the QMS implementation include procedure development (5.5), lack of financial resources (5.4) and information (5.1), and development of work guidelines (4.6), while improved responsibility and power sharing (5.2), better service quality (5.1) and higher patient satisfaction (5.1) were perceived by the respondents as the key QMS benefits. The level of satisfaction with the QMS among the management of the surveyed hospitals is mediocre (3.6). However it was found to be higher among respondents who were more competent in quality management, were familiar with ISO 9000 standards, and had higher numbers of employees trained in quality management. CONCLUSION: QMSs are perceived to be successfully running in one third of the Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals. Its current implementation stage is dependent on the hospital size - the bigger the hospital the more success it meets in the QMS implementation. As to critical Quality Management (QM) issues, hospitals tend to encounter such major problems as lack of financial resources, information and training, as well as difficulties in procedure development. On the other hand, the key factors that assist to the success of the QMS implementation comprise managerial awareness of the QMS significance and the existence of employee training systems and audit groups in hospitals.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Hospital Administrators/psychology , Hospitals, Convalescent/standards , Management Audit , Nurse Administrators/psychology , Nursing Service, Hospital/standards , Total Quality Management/organization & administration , Chronic Disease/nursing , Disabled Persons , Female , Guidelines as Topic , Hospitals, Convalescent/organization & administration , Humans , Job Satisfaction , Lithuania , Male , Nursing Homes/organization & administration , Nursing Homes/standards , Nursing Service, Hospital/organization & administration , Public Health Administration , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
A primary role of the registered dietitian (RD) is to assess nutritional needs of patients in states of physiological stress and illness and to recommend changes to diet and tube feedings when warranted. However, implementation of changes is dependent upon the physician accepting the recommendations of the RD. This study evaluated outcomes of two groups of enterally fed patients in a long-term acute-care facility in northwest Louisiana: (a) those for whom the physician accepted RD recommendations; and (b) those for whom the physician did not accept RD recommendations. Data showed that physician-prescribed enteral formulas provided 10.0% less kilocalories and 7.8% less protein than the RD-assessed needs. t tests showed that when RD recommendations were implemented, patients had a significantly shorter length of stay (28.5+/-1.8 vs 30.5+/-4.8 days, P<0.05), as well as significantly improved albumin (0.13+/-0.17 vs -0.44+/-0.21 g/dL [1.3+/-1.7 vs -4.4+/-2.1 g/L], P<0.05) and weight gains (0.51+/-0.1 vs -0.42+/-0.2%, P<0.05) when compared to those who continued with physician's orders. These data suggest that if RDs had the authority to write nutrition orders and provide early nutrition intervention, patient care would improve.
