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Measuring and Improving Results
An On-Going Management and Learning Tool
Formally measuring and evaluating programs and services at your Primary Healthcare Center can, and should, be used as an ongoing management and learning tool to improve your center’s effectiveness. The new insights you discover and benefits derived from evaluation will almost always far exceed the efforts you must put into the data collection and analysis process.As you begin this phase, also keep this important concept in mind: Successful organizations are those that can demonstrate the achievement of results, and these results are derived from good management. Good management, in turn, is based on solid decision making, which itself is based on having accurate information. Accurate information is good data that has been carefully analyzed. These are all critical and intricately linked components of evaluation.
Three Key Focus Areas
AIHA partnership programs have identified and recommend the following three major focus areas related to this phase of development. These areas are: monitoring and evaluation; sustainability of the Primary Healthcare Center; and replication.
Monitoring is an ongoing activity you will participate in throughout the operation of your Primary Healthcare Center. There were four objectives defined in AIHA’s Primary Healthcare partnerships concerning monitoring that you can also consider. (Note: In developing your Primary Healthcare Center, AIHA recommends you focus your efforts on Objectives 1 and 2, and this toolkit details these objectives only.) These objectives are:
- Objective 1: Increased capacity to deliver quality primary care services in targeted communities.
- Objective 2: Increased patient satisfaction with Primary Healthcare Center services.
- Objective 3: Increased acceptance and availability of Primary Healthcare evidence-based practices and clinical practice guidelines
- Object 4: Increased community participation in improving the health of the community.
Objective 1: Increasing Capacity
Increasing the capacity of your Primary Healthcare Center and its services is vital to its sustainability. In order to increase your capacity, you can start by gauging the success of your center by measuring it against the partnership program definition of a model clinic. A model Primary Healthcare Center is one that meets at least eight out of 10 established criteria. Click here to access the 10 criteria of a model Primary Healthcare Center and learn ways to increase capacity at your own center.
Click here to continue reading about Monitoring & Evaluation.
