Human Performance Improvement in the Health Care Organizations. Results of Empirical Study in Poland

Abstract

Human Performance Improvement (HPI) as well as human aspects in Quality Management (QM) has received strong attention from researches. Many studies investigate the level of health care services and their main determinants. This paper seeks the relationships between the concepts of HPI and QM. The aims are to present the HPI practices on the example of EFQM Business Excellence Model criteria. HPI criteria were measured by EFQM model in Health Care Organizations (HCO) in Poland with use of case study methodology conducted on the basis of self-assessment reports documentation. The study included all HCO which are Polish Quality Award winners in the years 2005-2010. Studied HCO belonged to public sector. Results of study: (1) showed that the rules of HPI apply to all criteria of the EFQM model in Human Resources Management range. (2) justified the role and importance of HPI in the evaluation QM in HCO. The use of the EFQM model to assessment of the quality level of HCO is helpful for implementation of aimed improvement. Building QM awareness contributes to HCO creation of the need for management mechanisms and the development of medical service personnel function which is related to HPI. © 2012, Versita. All rights reserved.