SAFETY & QUALITY IN AUSTRALIAN HEALTH SYSTEM

Safety refers to the extent to which possible hazards, as well as accidental perils, are prevented or curtailed. Research by Australian commission for SQHC refers safety as “the degree to which potential risk and unintended results are avoided or minimized” (AIHW, 2014). On the other hand, quality is defined as the satisfaction of customers through the services delivered. Customers in the healthcare include; patients, employees, management, the community, and suppliers. Attaining of quality in a health organization is not a one-time process but it is continuous. The standard helps in provision of safety and quality healthcare services to patients because; it minimizes the risks of patients acquiring preventable infections and also enables management of such infections when they occur. Therefore, the research paper dwells much on identifying different roles of safety and quality in healthcare, identifying a clinical activity central to standard 3 and the process via which data is collected and the outcome by applying Donabedian Model.

Critical discussion of Quality and Safety in Australian Healthcare system Australia is among the countries that promote equity concerning access to healthcare services among its people regardless of age, gender, and social class. During 2010, the government of Australia endorsed a safety and quality framework that ensures standard and safe delivery of health services. It is a framework that believes in high quality and safe healthcare for its people and has observe measures aimed at achieving its long-term goals because the quality is a continuous process. Such lapses result to loss of life as well as excessive financial expenditure on health care delivery. It is as a result of such lapses that ACSQH was developed by the government to help in coordinating safety and quality improvement in its healthcare system.

In 2017/18 fiscal year, the commission will concentrate on improving the two determinants of healthcare delivery by ensuring they are advanced to the expected standards. Its focus will involve contacting pilot test as well implementing the second version of NSQHS standards (ACSQHC, 2017). The commission will further examine changes in healthcare delivery and available opportunities to improve outcomes for consumers by focusing on unguaranteed changes as well as enhancing efficiency in the healthcare system. A study contacted in different European nations, including Australia, indicated a close correlation between the rate of consumption of antimicrobials and ARBs prevalence in animals such as cows and pigs. According to 2017 report by AURA, the consumption of antimicrobial drugs in different health facilities, both private and public was maximum in 2010 but this rate decreased between 2010 and 2015 by 9.

These drugs come in different types and AURA noted that the rate of consumption of fluoroquinolone went down as restrict policies adopted in most of the hospitals in the country. Considering different healthcare organizations, approximately 23% of its prescriptions failed to adhere to given guidelines and further 21. 9% of them were found to be inappropriate (AURA, 2017). The main objective of ACSQHC is “improving patient safety by reducing inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing through AMS” (Shpa, 2012). The program involves different stakeholders such as lead doctors, a specialist in infectious diseases and a pharmacist. The role of this group of experts is to implement the AMS program in an organization. The program should be involved in organizational governance which monitors quality and safety improvement within the system.

Most of the responsibilities for ensuring proper implementation of AMS program is left to the pharmacist who can facilitate policy formulation and enforcement as well as encouraging people to observe antimicrobial guidelines. The model recommends drawing proportional sample representation that will help in providing an actual image of quality care. The process of quality assessment should involve a sound and valid experience. The scholar preferred a combination of both implicit and explicit criterion. In this case, explicit criteria help in preserving cases that been accorded quality care. Such cases are further evaluated by applying implicit method (Haj, Lamrini & Rais, 2012). Lastly, determination of patient outcome should involve evaluation of patient’s health after a period of continued healthcare provision. After evaluating the patient’s outcome based on the resources and activities involved determine the quality of healthcare delivery.

Conclusion The quality and safety are most paramount in every health organization that values its patients. The two factors determine the efficiency of health care system in different settings. However, quality development is not a one-time activity but it is a continuous process that calls for a lot of investment. Sydney ACSQHC. Retrieved from http://www. safetyandquality. gov. au/wpcontent/uploads/2011/01/NSQHS-Standards- Sept2011. gov. au/internet/budget/publishing. nsf/Content/2017-2018_Health_PBS_sup2/$File/2017-18_Health_PBS_4. 02_ACSQHC. pdf AIHW (2014) ‘Definitions of safety and quality of health care’ retrieved from: http://www. Retrieved from https://www. safetyandquality. gov. au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AURA-2017-Second-Australian-report-on-Antimicrobial-Use-and-Resistance-in-human-health. pdf BERWICK, D. , Craswell, A. , Rossi, D. , & Holzberger, D. Evaluation of an aged care nurse practitioner service: quality of care within a residential aged care facility hospital avoidance service.