The primary goal of healthcare management is to ensure patients receive safe and efficient care. To achieve this, it is essential to provide professionals with all the necessary resources.
In theory, this may seem simple, but in practice, numerous challenges must be addressed to ensure successful service delivery. To achieve efficiency and safety, implementing Quality Management in Healthcare is indispensable.
The effectiveness of healthcare management depends on several factors, such as the availability of appropriate equipment, access to data on preventive programs, qualified professional training, therapeutic resources, and continuous education.
To keep operations running smoothly, healthcare institutions must rely on Quality Management, utilizing technological tools that optimize processes and help achieve strategic objectives successfully.
Since healthcare is a service provided to people, institutions are subject to regular evaluations and audits, which generate valuable insights and guidance for continuous improvement.
However, for Quality Management to effectively contribute to an organization’s success, it is crucial to understand the challenges it will face and make the necessary adjustments whenever required.
Common Challenges in Healthcare Management
One of the most common challenges in healthcare management is the lack of well-defined processes. In many cases, even when processes exist, they are unclear or not properly structured.
The absence of documented processes and information, such as the description of critical activities, directly impacts service quality and outcomes. Critical activities may be performed by different professionals, each following their own approach, leading to inconsistencies and even errors in patient care.
This also increases risks—both for the institution and for patients. Additionally, it contributes to resource waste. When protocols are established and clear instructions are provided, there is greater standardization in the use of financial and time resources.
Typically, lack of process standardization is closely linked to manual management and control, which remains a reality in many healthcare organizations.
The absence of standardized procedures can severely impact patient care, particularly for individuals with the same symptoms or clinical condition. For example, in cases of chest pain, if there is no established emergency protocol, different doctors may order different tests, which can affect both diagnosis and treatment—especially in critical cases.
Data security has also become a significant challenge for healthcare institutions, especially those that still rely on manual processes and printed records instead of digital solutions. Physical documents make it more difficult to control access to information, increasing the risk of violations of data protection regulations, such as the LGPD.
Finally, but equally important, is the challenge of financial management. This includes the rigorous control of operational costs, time investment, budgets, funding sources, and capital allocation for medical equipment. Every resource that can be optimized is highly valuable.
Financial constraints have a far greater impact on healthcare quality than many realize—including the overall patient experience, whether in a hospital or a clinic.
Quality Management to Overcome Daily Challenges
Although many healthcare institutions face similar challenges daily, there is no universal formula to overcome or mitigate them.
However, there are tools that can help address these challenges more effectively, preparing organizations to handle unexpected events. One of these essential tools is Quality Management!
As with any organizational change, the implementation of Quality Management must be supported by Organizational Culture and senior leadership.
All employees and professionals must be engaged and feel like an integral part of the change, as they will be responsible for executing processes and protocols in practice.
Once implemented, ongoing training is essential, and clear, continuous communication should be maintained to facilitate feedback, problem identification, and process improvement.
It is also important to recognize that Quality Management promotes process standardization and fosters an organizational approach to process management. This enables active efforts to mitigate errors, reduce wasted time and resources, and enhance patient safety and service quality.
This transformation also shifts the focus of healthcare services entirely to the patient. Since services exist for and because of patients, ensuring high-quality care that meets their needs must be a top priority.
This approach directly improves efficiency and effectiveness, reduces waiting times, supports preventive actions, and lowers operational costs.
Quality Management typically requires the use of technology to improve control and monitoring processes, elevating institutional standards—particularly when evaluated by rigorous healthcare regulatory bodies and certification entities.
Patient-Centered Focus
Just as the Customer Journey and the Citizen Journey emphasize focusing on their respective audiences, there is also the Patient Journey, which centers its strategies around the patient experience.
In healthcare management, this is a critical factor for both the success of the business and the quality of the service provided.
To improve this experience, all processes can be mapped and optimized from the patient’s perspective and their interactions. You can learn more about this subject in the article “From Process Mapping to Loyalty: The Power of BPM Centered on the Customer.”
Additionally, you can map your patient’s journey using the CCBXD method, created by Gart Capote. This method consists of stages to consider when mapping your patient’s journey throughout their processes, and it can be explored further through Interact Flow, a free tool provided by Interact.
Technology and Quality Management
The adoption of technology is part of the Digital Transformation movement in the healthcare sector, which is essential in today’s world. It involves advanced systems and tools designed to improve the quality and efficiency of care and organizational management.
However, it is important to consider whether the management technologies being adopted are compatible with other systems already in use, such as electronic medical records.
The Quality Management solution from Interact Suite SA includes modules like SA Governance Manager, SA Document Manager, SA Risk Manager, SA Audit Manager, and SA Occurrence Manager. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with ERP, CRM, and BI systems.
These modules are ideal for ensuring the core principles of Quality Management in Healthcare, such as prioritizing the patient in decisions and actions, engaging leadership and other professionals, fostering continuous improvement, adopting a process-based approach, and making evidence-based decisions, among others.
With the modern and agile systematization offered by Interact, all necessary alignments can be made to ensure greater security in the pursuit of excellence in management, as well as achieving certifications and accreditations.
The solution enables Total Quality Management, integrating strategic management through action plans and indicators, document management, occurrence management, audits, and risk control.
Moreover, the software is fully aligned with ISO, ONA, and Joint Commission International, certification and accreditation bodies.
Want to learn more about the solution? Visit our website.