Journal of

Background: Quality management as an organizational strategy helps enhance hospital efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. This study aimed to examine the impact of quality management on employees’ job satisfaction at Respiratory Intensive Care unit, Labafijejad Hospital.

Materials and Methods: A participatory action research was used for the intervention in 2013. A quality improvement team was established and operational processes were improved using a quality management model. The quality improvement team identified and standardized working processes, identified quality goals for the processes and improved them until achieved quality goals. Employees’ job satisfaction data was collected before and after the intervention.

Results: The quality management model implementation improved employees’ job satisfaction at the Respiratory Intensive Care unit. Employees’ job satisfaction was increased from 56.6 percent in 2013 to 68.3 percent in 2014. Integrating employees’ needs in quality improvement activities helps sustain the benefits of quality management. As a result, employees’ moral and satisfaction increase.

Conclusions: Implementing an appropriate quality management model appropriately in a supportive environment helps enhance employees’ job satisfaction and morale. Managers' and employees' commitment and involvement in quality improvement activities are required for successful quality management implementation.

Background: The health system of Iran is suffering from resources shortage. The health insurance companies (payers) do not confirm all hospitals’ claims (bills) and as a result do not reimburse them completely. Decreasing the amount of these deductions helps healthcare managers to use their resources efficiently. This study aimed to examine the impact of a quality management model on reducing the amount of healthcare insurance deductions at operating theatre department of Valiasr hospital in 2014-2015.

Materials and Methods: A participatory action research was used for the intervention. A quality improvement team was established and using the ten-step quality management model improved operational processes at operating theatre department.  Related data were collected before and after the intervention to determine the effect of quality management system on deductions.

Results: The average deduction per patient at the beginning of the study was 339572 Rials. Illegible and uncompleted patient’s medical records, using wrong codes of surgery and anesthetics in documents and miscalculation were the main reasons of deductions. The reasons for deductions were identified and appropriate solutions were applied to decrease the amount of deductions at operating theatre department. The average deduction per patient at the end of study was 262818 Rials. The amount of deductions has decreased from 6.9 % to 3.8 %. The quality management system helped reduce the amount of deductions by 44.9%.

Conclusion: Implementing an appropriate quality management model appropriately helps reduce deductions in hospitals effectively