Assessment of Patients’ Quality of Care in Healthcare Systems; a Comprehensive Narrative Literature Review

This narrative literature review aims to assess the quality of patient care within healthcare systems, addressing the complexities of defining and measuring care quality. Despite the absence of a universal definition, various institutions, such as the Institute of Medicine, emphasize the importance of enhancing desired health outcomes. Quality is traditionally evaluated through three key elements: structure, process, and outcome. Structure encompasses resources and technologies, process focuses on patient-caregiver interactions, and outcomes relate to patient satisfaction and health improvements. Additionally, the concept of balancing measures integrates these elements, recognizing that efforts to enhance one aspect may adversely affect others, such as costs or staff load. This review highlights the importance of focusing on specific objectives to achieve balanced results. It also examines the influence of models like the Dutch Consumer Quality Index, service quality (SERVQUAL), and the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model on assessing service quality. These tools, employed in diverse healthcare settings, provide insights into gaps between patient expectations and service delivery. Furthermore, they emphasize the need for tailored improvements in functional and technical quality, including staff training and localized strategies. The study underscores that achieving high-quality care requires a comprehensive approach, considering both patient satisfaction and systemic balance, to ensure effective outcomes in diverse healthcare environments.