Healthcare systems may vary in structure and available resources, but medical professionals can play a critical role in improving access to care and quality of care.
Their roles may be both formal and informal but they can help to create an environment for improved practices and ultimately increase the performance of healthcare systems. Improving healthcare quality requires a systematic change of the entire system but will also change how individual medical practitioners interact with their patients.
Clinical leadership
It is widely recognized that medical leadership and engagement in roles that go beyond the excellence of individual doctors is an important asset for the performance and future of healthcare. Clinical leaders can take various roles and use resources in ways that help front-line clinicians to introduce new ways of working and to redesign care for improvements.
Understanding, measuring and improving care requires the use of specific methods and tools. It also requires collaborating with managers in order to develop strategies that align with improving quality and saving costs at the same time. Click here to find out more about leasing expensive equipment, like imaging equipment, from Excedr to save costs without compromising on quality.
Access to care
Access to care is one of the most crucial factors when it comes to improving the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes. Patients need access to the right care at the right time to get the best results.
This doesn’t only mean getting patients to regularly visit their primary care physicians or use preventative service like early detection screenings. It also means improving how and when patients can access care. For example, workplace wellness systems and onsite clinics are offering more convenient access to certain patients.
A recent Deloitte report, The Future of Health 2040, states that the healthcare industry is facing large-scale disruption due to greater connectivity, open platforms, patient-focused care and interoperable data. Medical professionals innovating to offer more convenient, connected care to patients will be ahead of this emerging trend.
Patient-centered care
Patient-centered care is becoming more important than ever. The first step to improving their quality of care comes from analyzing existing data to understand where opportunities exist. There is a wealth of available data from electronic health records, patient satisfaction surveys, outcomes studies etc. and analyzing it for insights can enable more patient-centered, connected care.
Healthcare systems need to closely monitor patients across the whole care continuum, from the time they first receive care to payment and ongoing care.
Patient engagement
Patients are often great advocates for their own health but engaging them and teaching them to be proactive isn’t always easy. Primary health practitioners are in a unique position to encourage such engagement but for true engagement, they need to find ways to encourage communication throughout the entire patient healthcare journey. This may involve collaborating with families, other care providers, insurance providers, other physicians, and social services.
Continuous evolution and collaboration
Healthcare systems can identify areas for improvement by analyzing data and set goals using quality and consistency measures to guide them in the goal-setting process. Improving healthcare quality is not a one-time process. It requires continuous evaluation. It requires planning a change, enacting the change, observing the results, analyzing the results, and acting on them.
Healthcare organizations that truly want to improve the quality of care should also conduct regular research and learn from other organizations. Another healthcare facility may be successful in a specific area and it may even be possible to partner with other healthcare organizations. Most healthcare organizations are happy to collaborate to improve patient outcomes.