Level of Quality Management and Safety Survey in Selected Hospitals in the Czech Republic.

Quality of care has become an important concept in present nursing. Accreditation is proper evidence and also the most efficient means to achieve high-quality care. Procedure of accreditation in the Czech Republic is most frequently administered at national level by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of the Czech Republic. The main objective of my thesis was to survey the setting of quality management and safety in selected hospitals in the Czech Republic. I used quantitative research and quantitative method {--} interviews and questionnaires in hospitals in České Budějovice, Český Krumlov, Písek, Prachatice, Tábor, Jindřichův Hradec from January to March in 2010. The qualitative part had the form of interviews with staff-nurses from above mentioned hospitals. For this part of work I set seven survey questions that had stemmed from the standards of accreditation of the Joint Commission on Accreditation. These questions referred to implementation of Programme of Quality Improvement and Safety of Provided Services, to the process of auditing, to the quality and safety data collecting, to the process of observing clients/patients´ satisfaction with nursing care, to the setting of report system of unusual and abnormal situations, to the setting of efficient system of complaints solving and to the standardization of health care. On the grounds of these interviews 9 hypotheses were set. These hypotheses were acknowledged in the quantitative survey among head nurses from above mentioned hospitals. 111 questionnaires were handed out, 82 questionnaires returned. The first hypothesis (proved) was: Head nurses play active parts in the Programme of Quality Improvement and Safety of Services Provided. The second hypothesis (not proved) was: Head nurses who perform the function of an auditor, have the certificate of accredited course. The third hypothesis (proved) is: The most frequent indicator of quality of nursing care is observation of patients´ satisfaction with provided care. The fourth hypothesis (proved) is: Head nurses have a form for reporting unusual/abnormal situations available. The fifth hypothesis (proved) is: Patients/clients have questionnaires available to express satisfaction with the care. The sixth hypothesis (proved) is: Corrective measures are taken at wards, on the grounds of patients/clients´ satisfaction with care. The seventh hypothesis (proved): Head nurses participate in preparation of nursing care standards. The eighth hypothesis (not proved) is: Head nurses engage nurses with advanced education in preparation of the standards. The results proved that only those nurses are engaged, who display interest, regardless of their education. The ninth hypothesis (proved) is: Nursing care provided at individual wards has a form of nursing process. Neither nursing process nor nursing documentation is used in one hospital only. The results of the survey will be provided to staff-nurses of the hospitals as a background for continuous quality improvement of provided care