The Six Dimensions of Healthcare Quality
Introduction
The introduction provides an overview of healthcare quality and the dimensions that need to be embedded in everyday practice.
Healthcare Quality Dimensions
- Healthcare is about how health services are organised and delivered to support people in maintaining or improving their health.
- The Dimensions of Healthcare Quality are Safety, Timeliness and Accessibility, Effectiveness and Appropriateness, Patient Centred Care, Efficiency and Equity.
- Applying these dimensions leads to a reliable healthcare system.
- Reliability is when safe, appropriate care is provided by the right people, to the right patient, in the right place, at the right time. every time.
Celebrating Great Work
- It's important to celebrate great work done by healthcare teams every day.
- This module introduces the basics of quality dimensions so you can better understand how to apply them in your workplace.
Safety
This section discusses safety incidents in healthcare and ways to prevent them.
Reducing Risk of Incidents
- Safety incidents are unplanned events that result in or could result in injury, damage or loss.
- Examples include medication errors such as wrong drug or dose given, preventable falls or pressure injuries.
Designing Reliable Systems
- Most often it is the design of the system that has resulted in an incident rather than human error.
- To prevent safety incidents from occurring we need to foster partnership and teamwork.
Timeliness & Accessibility
This section discusses timeliness and accessibility in healthcare and ways to improve them.
Reducing Wait Time
- Timeliness is about how quickly patients receive the healthcare they need.
- Our aim is to ensure that there aren't any barriers to patients receiving timely access to the care they need.
- Do we need to reduce wait time for elective surgery, time in emergency department or delays in bed availability?
Improving Accessibility
- Accessible healthcare is about patients getting their needs met when they need it, wherever they are.
- This includes reducing geographical, financial, medical or social issues that prevent the patient from getting the right care at the right time.
- Do we have reliable systems to ensure patients living in remote or rural areas have access to the care they need in a timely way?
Effectiveness & Appropriateness
This section discusses effectiveness and appropriateness of healthcare services and treatments.
Evidence-Based Practice
- Effective healthcare involves providing services and treatment based on scientific knowledge and evidence-based practice.
- We always need to question what are the most appropriate medicines, therapy or tests for our patients.
Over/Under Treatment
- Appropriate care is also about how we can reduce over-treatment or under-treatment of our patients.
- Over-treatment could be as simple as not following blood transfusion guidelines while under-treatment could be not performing risk screening for delirium pressure injury or falls risk.
Conclusion
The conclusion summarizes key points discussed throughout the video.
Key Takeaways
- Healthcare quality is about how health services are organized and delivered to support people in maintaining or improving their health.
- The dimensions of healthcare quality include safety, timeliness and accessibility, effectiveness and appropriateness, patient-centered care, efficiency, and equity.
- To prevent safety incidents from occurring we need to foster partnership and teamwork.
- Accessible healthcare is about patients getting their needs met when they need it, wherever they are.
- Effective healthcare involves providing services and treatment based on scientific knowledge and evidence-based practice.
Patient-Centred Care
This section discusses the importance of putting the patient at the center of healthcare and providing care that is respectful of individual patient preferences, needs, and values.
Key Points
- Patient-Centred Care is about putting the patient in the center of the care system.
- It is important to provide care that is respectful of and open to individual patient preferences, needs, and values.
- Healthcare professionals should consider patients' needs and support their experience of comfortable, timely, reliable, and safe care.
- Partnering with patients allows for sharing knowledge and decision-making.
Efficient Healthcare
This section discusses how healthcare providers can ensure efficient service delivery by getting the most out of available resources to deliver high-quality healthcare.
Key Points
- Efficient healthcare is about getting the most out of available resources to deliver high-quality healthcare.
- Models of care should be clinically appropriate, and procurement should be cost-effective to avoid any waste.
- Healthcare providers should consider alternative ways to deliver better value healthcare. For example, they could consider delivering procedures or care in a day case or outpatient setting instead of routinely admitting patients as in-patients.
Equitable Healthcare
This section discusses how healthcare providers can ensure equitable access to high-quality healthcare regardless of personal characteristics such as age, gender, geographical location, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status or health status.
Key Points
- Equitable healthcare is about delivering high-quality care regardless of personal characteristics such as age, gender, geographical location etc.
- Healthcare providers should ensure that access to healthcare is fair for everyone.
- Healthcare professionals can play a part in ensuring care is equitable in their workplace.
Conclusion
This transcript emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care, efficient healthcare, and equitable healthcare. It encourages healthcare providers to consider patients' needs and preferences, find ways to deliver better value healthcare, and ensure equitable access to high-quality care regardless of personal characteristics.