Quality measurement in emergency area. results from an empirical analysis

Emergency care system (ES) is one of most critical factors of National Health Care System (NHS), because it represents the conjunction ring between health services offer and perceived performance’s quality. For many patients, in fact, Emergency care system is the first point of contact with the NHS and their experience at this step can significantly affect how they feel about the quality of care across the NHS as a whole. We know that the main factor affecting of patients’ experience is how long they have to wait. But we also know that they want to see other improvements – especially better information and more involvement, better facilities for children, friendly and helpful staff, and a cleaner, more pleasant environment (Baldi G., 1994; Ottone G., 1996). ES’s criticism comes also from the organizational perspective, cause organization has to face to non foreseeable and no deferrable demand (Gai V., 1999; JCAHC, 1997). These first literature findings confirm the importance of primary care in improving the efficiency of health care delivery for population and they justify the numerousness of studies and analyses on performance’s measurement methodology in emergency area. The same reasons are at the basis of the research “Quality analysis and organizational model in the emergency area”. This research developed by three partners (Regione Liguria DITEA e DISSAL ) was promoted by the Italian Health Care Ministry for a duration of two years. In this context, our objective was to analyse the offering system encompassing 118 emergency service and three emergency departments representing different complexity degrees foreseen by Italian NHS . An economic and managerial approach is adopted, obviously imported and adapted to the sanitary context that imposed a lot of adjustments and corrections to methodologies, techniques and instruments, in order to take into consideration the research context’s specificity. The present paper summarises only a part of the research project outcomes, in particular the development of a quality measurement system and its validation path.