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Use of the Balanced Scorecard to Assess Provincial Hospital Performance in Afghanistan
Author(s) -
Chang Christine S,
Bonhoure Philippe,
Alam Sahibullah,
Hansen Peter,
Burnham Gilbert
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
world medical and health policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.326
H-Index - 11
ISSN - 1948-4682
DOI - 10.2202/1948-4682.1045
Subject(s) - balanced scorecard , christian ministry , business , performance indicator , quality (philosophy) , performance management , report card , public hospital , medicine , nursing , operations management , psychology , process management , political science , marketing , pedagogy , philosophy , epistemology , economics , law
Objectives: An assessment of provincial hospitals in Afghanistan was carried out in 2007 to measure performance against the national standards and guidelines in the Essential Package of Hospital Services. Methods: Assessment instruments were developed through consultation with the Ministry of Public Health and key stakeholders. Teams of six persons spent three days at each of the 30 provincial hospitals. Results are displayed using a balanced score card approach. Results: Considerable variation exists across hospitals. Administrative management domains, patient satisfaction and community involvement tended to be higher scoring. Financial systems, quality and safety, and ethics and value domains and indicators were lower. Discussion: This assessment demonstrates a wide range of performance of provincial hospitals nationally. This may reflect the diversity of funding, funding levels, and characteristics of facilities. Despite these challenges the level of performance in many hospitals is surprisingly good. Conclusion: Assessment of hospital performance when displayed using the balanced score card approach can provide meaningful information for policy formulation and assist hospital management in improvement of services.