Improving quality of care

Kris summarised the quality bottlenecks into two domains: provider competency and provider effort and attitudes. Yet sometimes, health workers might have little power to change how they are managed by others. Despite their competency and effort, they might have poor managers who do not guarantee supplies, or managers who don’t support them when they are faced with long shifts or busy clinics.

While having competent and motivated health workers is central to quality care, there is strong evidence that it is insufficient, and strategies that focus on health worker competency may not result in quality improvement. Kris concludes by outlining other requirements: national leadership; routine facility level quality assessments and established quality improvement processes at every level.

Are these in place in your setting?