The quality of care is provided to patients improves the desired outcomes of the service (Donabedian 2005). My personal encounter that best portrays the quality of the healthcare system happened last year when my father fell and broke two ribs. We admitted him to the hospital and by the second day, his mental state had started to deteriorate. By the third day, he was hardly coherent. Before hospitalization, my father who also suffers from Parkinson’s was mentally fine, so it was not normal for him to get so confused. The parade of doctors who attended to him was quick to assume that it was his natural state due to his condition and age. We were tasked with the duty of convincing each new doctor that saw him about his Parkinson's and explain that this was not his normal since he was normally, talking, functioning and coherent. A neurologist eventually figured out what was wrong. The different doctors who had attended to my father before had prescribed different pain medications which were interfering with my father's Parkinson’s medication leading to his mental deterioration and his rigid limbs. My father’s health improved after his medication was straightened out, but we had to maintain a constant vigil all through beside his bed to prevent another medication error.
Using Donabedian’s dimensions of care to give inference about the quality of care in the facility.
Structure : The structure of which care is delivered was poor. There was miscommunication among the caregivers who attended to my father initially. His Parkinson’s was not communicated yet it turned out to be a fundamental element of his treatment.
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Process : the treatment process was wrong including the diagnosis and treatment. When my father’s mental state started to deteriorate, the doctors associated it to old age and his condition. Besides, the different pain medications that were subscribed interfered with his Parkinson’s medication leading to his mental deterioration.
Outcome : as a result of the miscommunication, my father’s mental health deteriorated, and we were forced to stay by his side the whole time to avoid another medical error.
My overall assessment is that the hospital’s level of care delivery is poor and very unsatisfactorily. According to Raleigh and Foot (2010), miscommunication is a major problem in care delivery and is the main cause of misdiagnosis in most healthcare facilities. A 2003 study by Isaacs and Creinin indicated that among those who had been hospitalized within the past 12 months, 30 percent said that nurses and doctors communicated poorly with each other. Besides, 24 percent asserted that doctors and nurses did not communicate information about their condition or treatment (Isaacs & Creinin 2003). The poor care delivery at the hospital was mainly due to poor communication between the health providers at the institution. The hospital should streamline its staff communication system by recording the medical history of the patient before administering any treatment or drugs to them. In addition, the treatment during the period of stay must be recorded and the information used by all the caregivers attending to the patient at any time.
References
Isaacs, J. N., & Creinin, M. D. (2003). Miscommunication between healthcare providers and patients may result in unplanned pregnancies ☆ . Contraception , 68 (5), 373-376.
Donabedian, A. (2005). Evaluating the quality of medical care. The Milbank Quarterly , 83 (4), 691-729.
Raleigh, V., & Foot, C. (2010). Getting the measure of quality. Opportunities and challenges .
