In order to ensure more patient-centred care with improved performance of the service providers, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital (ShSMCH) has been going through a transformation by implementing a series of quality improvement initiatives, reports BSS.
"The changes will be reflected through improvement of the working areas of service delivery that require simple interventions manageable by the staff themselves with necessary support from the top management to improve the quality of our hospital services," said Professor Dr Uttam Kumar Barua, director of the hospital.
Established in 1963 in an iconic Louis I Kahn's architectural beauty, this 850-bed Medical College Hospital takes care of 1500-2000 patients on an average every day. The hospital has been selected as a model institute for introducing interventions focusing quality care by the Quality Improvement Secretariat (QIS) of the Health Economics Unit (HEU) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) as the ShSMCH offers services through diverse work areas.
Explaining the initiatives, Md Ashadul Islam, additional secretary, MoH&FW and director general, Health Economics Unit, said, "The idea of 'quality' embraces diverse features ranging from the improvement of basic services to clinical care offered to patients. The QIS since its establishment in January, 2015 has been planning to develop selected health facilities as a role model for quality services as per the recently developed national strategy on the quality of care."
"It requires combined and continuous efforts of everyone involved within the health system to make the changes that will lead to better patient outcomes, improved system performance and professional development," he said.
Over the past few months, the QIS has been working closely with the ShSMCH staff to develop a quality improvement team through workshops.
Swapna Sharmin, a senior staff nurse of the hospital is one of the team members who explains how the staff are planning at the initial stage to improve the quality of services.
"Removing unnecessary and useless items, keeping the hospital clean and tidy and labelling the files and folders do not require much effort. But the pressure of patients does not let us do these often," she said, adding, "We are now working on these to ensure better service delivery."
"A clean work environment in the hospital makes us feel good. It also helps patients to get well quickly," she said.
The hospital authorities are now planning to scrutinise the current status of their works and make necessary action plans for improvement "We are happy that quality improvement initiatives have been piloted in our hospital, we would like to take this opportunity to turn this hospital into a role model with our sincere efforts," the director of the hospital said.