Upcoming HPM Emphasis Area Event: “Designing an Instrument to Measure Hospital Performance”
Thursday, 10/18
5-6PM in CT460
As global health initiatives focus on achieving the Millennium Development Goals it is increasingly evident that strong, functioning health systems are required to sustain long term improvement in population-level health outcomes. While limited resources contribute to low-functioning health systems, poor management at the systemic and individual health facility level often is an underlying factor of under-performance. Without routine performance data, health facility managers are unable to make evidence-based decisions and plan for quality improvement. An appropriate hospital performance measurement tool that could be used to regularly collect performance data would empower frontline health personnel to have the information necessary to provide more efficient and effective care that would in turn contribute to better patient outcomes and population health.
Nine MPH students and an IH instructor spent the summer working on the design phase of an instrument to measure hospital performance. Using participatory action research methods, the team worked in 4 hospitals, observing patient journeys, brainstorming hospital process maps, and consulting with hospital personnel and administrators to select key measurement priorities. Hospitals ranged from an isolated rural hospital with limited resources to large reference hospitals where students scrubbed in to observe surgeries and deliveries, shadowed patients from registration to treatment, and learned firsthand about the complexities of a hospital system. Students will tell about their experiences and demonstrate process mapping techniques as well as presenting next steps in the project.
