The problem of quality management effectiveness within healthcare organizations: an international aspect

Introduction: The article presents an overview of quality management effectiveness issues in a healthcare organization. The purpose of this article is to investigate the most applicable international and Russian quality management models within healthcare organizations and to estimate their effectiveness. Materials and Methods: The research methods include General scientific methods of empirical and theoretical knowledge, General logical methods and techniques and methods of system analysis, comparison, analogy, generalization, the materials of sociological and expert research of the factors influencing the sustainability of a healthcare organization. A review of the literature on the problem covered the period from 2013 to 2016. The key aspect of research papers sampling was a study of the effectiveness of quality management in a healthcare organization. Results: The analysis revealed that, despite the peculiarities of national health systems in different countries, there are three fundamental approaches to the quality management system in a healthcare organization: 1. assessment of quality control of healthcare by third parties, i.e. quality assessment when conducting licensing or accreditation; 2. from building the internal system of healthcare organization quality management, for example, on the basis of ISO 9001; 3. the development of a system of sustainable development within the organization and, consequently, improving the efficiency of internal processes contributing to the quality of healthcare. The article describes the main problems of effectiveness of the above-listed approaches. Conclusions: In conclusion, the author notes that the level of sustainable development of the organization does not depend on compliance with the minimum mandatory requirements for the healthcare quality. However, if TQM principles are applied to the other support processes, the healthcare quality level remains consistently high over a long period of time.