Indicators for Evaluating and Measuring the Impact of Healthcare Infrastructure and Technology Management on Investments, Service Delivery and Quality of Care

摘要

Modern health care heavily relies on a whole range of health technologies that should be efficient, safe, cost effective and available to all people without causing a financial burden to the health care systems that would make them unachievable or unsustainable. Resources are often wasted on investments in health technologies that do not meet priority needs or are too complex, incompatible with the existing infrastructure and services, or too costly to maintain. This waste can undermine the health service as a whole by draining off funds needed for other essential system inputs. Resources may be further dissipated through bad management, leading to irrational or incorrect use of technologies, staff shortages, inadequate training, or lack of consumables, spare parts or maintenance plans. The management of health technologies should be recognized as an integral part of public health policy and donor countries and organizations should be called upon to support those countries who cannot afford to provide education and training for a sufficient number of clinical engineers and technicians by offering educational support.Availability, use, sustainability and impact of health technologies and their management have to be monitored with specific indicators. The development of impact indicators for evaluating and measuring healthcare infrastructure, technology and technology management as tools designed to encourage performance improvement is the aim of this work in progress. They are used as one component of an overall quality program that may include a range of other quality mechanisms such as standards and guidelines, audits, surveys, monitoring, measurement and improvement activities. The indicators are used to provide a reflection on the extent to which healthcare infrastructure and technology management have been implemented and the impact of that practice on quality of care and patient safety.