Factors Affecting Healthcare Systems

• Quality of care

  • degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes
  • it is based on evidence-based professional knowledge
• Effective

  • providing evidence-based healthcare services to those who need them
• Safe

  • avoiding harm to people for whom the care is intended
• People-centered

  • providing care that responds to individual preferences, needs, and values
• Timely

  • reducing waiting times and sometimes harmful delays
• Equitable

  • providing care that does not vary in quality on account of gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socio-economic status
• Integrated

  • providing care that makes available the full range of health services throughout the life course
• Efficient

  • maximizing the benefit of available resources and avoiding waste
• Patient related factors:

  • Patient Socio-Demographic variables
  • Patient Cooperation
  • Patient Illness
• Provider-related factors:

  • Provider Socio-Demographic variables
  • Provider Competence
  • Provider Motivation and Satisfaction
• Environmental factors:

  • Healthcare system
  • Resources and facilities
  • Leadership and management
  • Collaboration and partnership development
• Patient socio-demographic variables

  • factors influence the interaction between a health care professional and the patient and consequently the medical service quality
  • helps health care professionals to communicate better with the patient and attain the patient’s trust
• Patient cooperation

  • patient involvement is needed and affects the quality of medical services
  • clinical outcomes depend on the ability of patients to provide information and cooperate with clinicians
• Patient illness

  • influences the healthcare professional’s job stress, which in turn affects overall quality of medical service
• Provider Socio-Demographic Variables

  • the character and personality of healthcare providers affect the quality of medical services
  • providers’ personal and family problems also influence their behavior and the quality of services
• Provider competence

  • the quality of healthcare services mainly depends on practitioners’ knowledge and technical skills
  • healthcare professionals should improve their competencies to deliver high quality medical services
• Provider motivation and satisfaction

  • job satisfaction is very important in delivering high quality medical services to patients
• Healthcare system

  • referral system from the primary healthcare level to the secondary and tertiary levels sometimes are not followed
  • patients are free to choose the healthcare settings or providers. Therefore, there is a tendency in patient choice from a GP to a medical consultant
• Resources and facilities

  • insufficient infrastructure, resources, and equipment inhibit the delivery of quality medical services
  • there is a pressing need for a health information system
  • high-quality outputs services require high-quality inputs. Working with low-quality material decreases employees’ productivity
• Leadership and management

  • effective management is an important enabler of quality from the perspective of providers, managers, policymakers, and payers
• Collaboration and partnership development

  • medical doctors expect their colleagues or co-workers to be more responsible and be empowered enough to perform the job well
  • healthcare professionals highlighted the importance of cooperation and teamwork among healthcare providers as an important component of high-quality healthcare services
  • practitioners’ ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with other health professionals or institutions was also considered essential to the delivery of high-quality medical services
• High incidence of poverty

  • recorded in far-flung areas (e.g., Geographically isolated, and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs))
  • people could not go to health centers or hospitals because of travel cost and distance
• Hilot

  • a birthing method characterized primarily by “massage”
• Poor Basic Services and Facilities

  • schools, sanitation, electricity and clinics or health centers, laboratory, medicines, and commodities
  • led to deaths of poor children or put them in poor health conditions
  • health professionals sometimes are “forced” to issue prescription due to the absence of doctor
  • services offered: free counseling and contraceptives (family planning), deworming and immunization (lack of proper refrigeration for the vaccines), feeding programs, anti-rabies shots
• Poor Health-Seeking Behavior

  • not observed among the poor in contrast to population of higher economic classes
  • the less fortunate succumb to the consequences of poverty as they suffer the incapability to cope with health expenditures
  • community economic development is crucial. Governments have pursued nonetheless strategies to encourage the poor to utilize health facilities and services like giving incentives and enrolling them in social insurance
• Quality of Health Professionals and Workers

  • while improved access to better public health facilities and their services can reduce the mortality and morbidity rates associated with unhygienic medical procedures, some health works were found to be prescribing drugs despite being untrained to do so which could lead to serious health complications among the public
  • some health workers believe that the training for BHWs is insufficient, and thus more training is needed
• Problems in Human Resources and Leadership

  • poor management in the provincial and local level were found out to be contributory to low-quality service in health facilities
  • policy makers should concern themselves to health outcomes especially in the midst of this gross inequalities
  • unfortunately, policy makers have rarely focus on including the poor in the implementation and formulation of strategies
  • health professionals are either concentrated in the urban areas or leaving the country
• Preventive

  • delivered prior to the onset of a disorder, these interventions are intended to prevent or reduce the risk of developing a problem, such as underage alcohol use, prescription drug misuse and abuse, and illicit drug and enuse
  • any medical service that defends against health emergencies
  • includes doctor visits, such as annual physicals, well-woman appointments, and dental cleanings
  • some medicines are preventive, such as immunizations, contraception, and allergy medications
  • screenings, such as tests for skin cancer, high cholesterol, and colonoscopies, are effective preventive measures
• Promotive

  • are designed to create environments and conditions that support behavioral health and the ability of individuals to withstand challenges
  • also reinforce the entire continuum of behavioral health services
• Curative

  • implies to treatment of a medical pathology such that the patient becomes free from the disease/pathology process along with its symptoms
  • for example: antibiotics in bacterial infection, surgery of an excisable tumor or the chemotherapy for other treatable diseases
• Rehabilitative

  • is an important part of the recovery process after surgery or significant injury
  • has a whole of person approach that aims to achieve the highest possible level of function, maximize quality of life and minimize the need for ongoing health and community support
  • aims to restore function across physical, psychological, social, and vocational domains