Quality... its that magic word the helps justify spending a little more money on product A when deciding against product B. Its that thing we try to figure out, try to measure based on where something is manufactured, something we compare and try to get the most of especially when we need to depend on that thing that we're trying to determine quality for. But what is quality? What does it mean to you? I'll tell you what it means to me.
Quality is the condition of being more fit or qualified for some purpose for some expected period of time. There are qualities of humanity, qualities of workmanship, qualities of friendship, qualities of service and of course, qualities of health care delivery. To me, saying that something is of good quality means that it is a better suited to perform some particular purpose for exactly the duration expected. In other words, when I bought that i7 laptop I expected it to out perform any other computer available AND do it for years to come. It has to meet these conditions to be considered good quality. Sure, its super fast, but if it crashes and breaks down in 2 weeks... it fails my second condition of performance duration, and thus, will not earn the distinction of "good" quality.
In terms of health care, quality really must address the entire health care delivery process, the results, long term benefits, patient satisfaction, competitiveness, sustainability... just to name a few. And since we have to pay for it, total cost is a major factor in considering quality. Cost containment continues to a driving force for health care reform. And it should be... we spend more GDP than most... yet constantly are rank inferior to some third world countries! In this regard, I can tell you... the quality of our health care system is "not good."
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