What is the focus of quality management in healthcare?

The focus of quality management in healthcare centers on ensuring that healthcare services meet established standards and improve patient outcomes. This approach prioritizes patient safety, effectiveness of care, and the overall quality of healthcare delivery. By implementing quality management practices, healthcare organizations aim to enhance the patient experience, minimize errors, and promote continuous improvement in service delivery.

Quality management frameworks often involve measuring clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and adherence to guidelines and best practices. This data-driven approach allows healthcare facilities to identify areas for improvement, implement necessary changes, and ultimately enhance the quality of care provided to patients.

In contrast, other options suggest priorities that could compromise patient care or are too narrow. Reducing hospital costs at any expense could lead to substandard care and decreased patient safety, while streamlining communication solely among administrative staff ignores the vital communication needed across all levels of care involving medical professionals and patients. Similarly, increasing patient volume through faster services may focus on quantity over quality, potentially detracting from the comprehensive care that patients require. Thus, the emphasis on established standards and improving outcomes clearly aligns with the goals of effective quality management in healthcare.