The implementation of quality management systems in hospitals: a comparison between three countries

Background

Is the implementation of Quality Management (QM) in health care proceeding satisfactorily and can national health care policies influence the implementation process? Policymakers and researchers in a country need to know the answer to this question. Cross country comparisons can reveal whether sufficient progress is being made and how this can be stimulated.

The objective of the study was to investigate agreement and disparities in the implementation of QMS between The Netherlands, Hungary and Finland with respect to the evaluation model used and the national policy strategy of the three countries.

Methods

The study has a cross sectional design, based on measurements in 2000. Empirical data about QM-activities in hospitals were gathered by a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires were answered by the directors of the hospitals or the quality coordinators. The analyses are based on data from 101 hospitals in the Netherlands, 116 hospitals in Hungary and 59 hospitals in Finland.

Outcome measures are the developmental stage of the Quality Management System (QMS), the development within five focal areas, and distinct QM-activities which were listed in the questionnaire.

Results

A mean of 22 QM-activities per hospital was found in the Netherlands and Finland versus 20 QM-activities in Hungarian hospitals. Only a small number of hospitals has already implemented a QMS (4% in The Netherlands,0% in Hungary and 3% in Finland). More hospitals in the Netherlands are concentrating on quality documents, whereas Finnish hospitals are concentrating on training in QM and guidelines. Cyclic quality improvement activities have been developed in the three countries, but in most hospitals the results were not used for improvements. All three countries pay hardly any attention to patient participation.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates that the implementation of QM-activities can be measured at national level and that differences between countries can be assessed. The hypothesis that governmental legislation or financial reimbursement can stimulate the implementation of QM-activities, more than voluntary recommendations, could not be confirmed. However, the results show that specific obligations can stimulate the implementation of QM-activities more than general, framework legislation.

The impact of legislative versus non-legislative quality policy in health care: a comparison between two countries

An important aim of the government's quality policy is to stimulate quality management (QM) in health care organizations. The relationship between the government's quality policy and QM in health care organizations is unknown. This article explores that relationship by comparing two countries with different quality policies, The Netherlands and Finland. In The Netherlands QM is required by law and health care is organized at national level. In Finland, QM is not required by law and the responsibilities for organizing health care are delegated to the municipalities. The question is whether or not these differences in national policy are reflected in the extent and effectiveness of QM in health care organizations in the two countries. A cross sectional survey was conducted in late 1999. Data about QM in both countries were gathered by questionnaire. The subsectors involved were hospitals, care for the disabled and care for the elderly. A total of 1172 health care organizations participated in the study (response rate 64%). The results show that-in keeping with our hypothesis-slightly more QM-activities and more patient participation were found in Dutch health care organizations compared with the Finnish ones. However, contrary to our expectations, the Finnish organizations reported more perceived effects of their QM-activities. Further analyses showed that some QM-activities are more closely related to the effectiveness of QM than others. In particular, cyclic quality improvement procedures, human resource management and the flexible attitude of employees showed the strongest relationship with the perceived effects of QM. The difference between the national approach in The Netherlands and the decentralized approach in Finland did not, as we had assumed, result in more regional variation in QM in Finland.

CONCLUSIONS

a government's quality policy may have some influence on the extent of QM in health care organizations. However, more QM-activities do not necessarily imply more effects.

RECOMMENDATIONS

since QM-activities differ in the degree to which they bring about changes and improvements in care, it is recommended that policy makers promote those QM-activities, which are the most potent, in order to improve the quality of care.

Local heroes beat national champions: quality improvement in Finnish health care

FINNISH HEALTH CARE: Although health care services in Finland are organized uniformly throughout the country, they, along with the application of total quality management (TQM)/continuous quality improvement (CQI), are the responsibility of municipalities. CASE 1: At the Helsinki City Health Organization, top management launched an organizationwide quality improvement (QI) initiative in 1993, entailing 150 CQI projects. Yet top and middle managers were not sufficiently dedicated to the initiative to provide adequate support to many of the quality projects. Only "islands of activity" were spotted. CASE 2: A physician in the pediatrics department of a hospital helped initiate CQI projects--for improvements in administration of x-rays for patients with antebrachium fractures, transport of samples to the microbiology laboratory, and admissions of patients with acute infectious disease. Successes led senior management in the hospital federation to issue a quality policy based on CQI management, showing the power of the good example. CASE 3: The first launch of CQI at the Helsinki University Central hospital was part of a management development project that did not have the full support of senior management and that, consequently, failed. A second initiative undertaken a year later, the quality council, was more successful. CASE 4: At a local center for social services and primary care, quality projects have strengthened the organization's team and network structures across two professional cultures.

DISCUSSION

The four cases provide insight into the diffusion of TQM/QI and implementation strategies on the local level.