Patient Satisfaction

The good health of nations is a key to human development and economic growth and it is important to analyze health systems’ performance and to share what we knew with governments and the international community.


Within all systems there are many highly skilled, dedicated people working at all levels to improve the health of their communities. To move towards higher quality care, more and better information is commonly required on existing provision, on the interventions offered and on major constraints on service implementation Consumers need to be better informed about what is good and bad for their health, why not all of
their expectations can be met, and that they have rights which all providers should respect.    

The challenge is to develop health systems that equitably improve health outcomes, respond to people’s legitimate demands and are financially fair. Recent research indicates that the way health systems are designed, managed and financed seriously affects people’s lives and equitable health outcomes are essential for global prosperity and the well-being of
societies.

Many countries are developing initiatives to measure performance to guide and inform the improvement process. Indeed, measurement and improvement are increasingly linked, as is indicated by familiar phrases such as ‘evidence-based medicine’ and
‘evidence-based policy’.

Equally important, if action is to be taken to improve performance, it is the need to understand the roles and motivation of different actors and available instruments in each
health system. “Performance” is defined as the extent to which the health system is meeting a set of key objectives. The key objectives for the health system are suggested as being: improving health outcomes and responsiveness to consumers, economic efficiency and equity of health (or access to care). The success or failure of any initiative to improve health performance will depend on the political and institutional context in...