Effects of refined management on medical quality, patient safety, and frontline staff’s perceived competence and job satisfaction: a single-center retrospective study in a psychiatric hospital

AI Summary

Refined quality management significantly improved safety culture, management evaluation, and healthcare workers' self-assessed competence (P<0.001).
Patient safety event rates declined significantly, with largest reductions in adverse drug reactions and medical complaints (P<0.001).
Overall satisfaction rose from 75.56% to 97.78%; findings suggest benefits but are limited by single-centre retrospective design, requiring multicentre prospective validation.

AI Summary

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively assess the comprehensive impact of transitioning from routine to refined quality management on medical quality, patient safety, and healthcare workers' perceived competence and satisfaction within the same medical team.

Outcome measures included medical quality scores as measured by internally developed scales, patient safety events measured as annual incidence rates using denominator data from hospital systems, and healthcare workers' self‑reported competence and satisfaction.

CONCLUSION: Refined quality management was associated with substantial improvements in healthcare workers' perceptions, self‑assessed competence, patient safety, and overall satisfaction in this psychiatric hospital setting.

Basic summary

BMC Health Serv Res. 2026 Jul 17. doi: 10.1186/s12913-026-15147-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively assess the comprehensive impact of transitioning from routine to refined quality management on medical quality, patient safety, and healthcare workers’ perceived competence and satisfaction within the same medical team.

METHODS: A retrospective self‑controlled before‑and‑after study was conducted in a single psychiatric hospital. A stable cohort of 90 healthcare workers was followed through two periods: the control period (January-December 2024) with routine quality management, and the intervention period (January-December 2025) with refined quality management. Data were extracted from hospital information systems, quality management archives, and specialized databases. Outcome measures included medical quality scores as measured by internally developed scales, patient safety events measured as annual incidence rates using denominator data from hospital systems, and healthcare workers’ self‑reported competence and satisfaction. Paired t‑tests were used for continuous scores, McNemar tests were applied for paired staff-level binary and ordinal data, while Pearson chi-square tests were used for patient safety incidence rates.

RESULTS: Compared with the control period, the intervention period showed significant improvements across all domains. Scores for safety culture, management evaluation, and self‑assessed competence increased significantly (all P<0.001). All patient safety event rates decreased significantly (P<0.05), with adverse drug reactions and medical complaints showing the largest reductions (P<0.001). Overall satisfaction with the management model increased from 75.56% to 97.78% (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: Refined quality management was associated with substantial improvements in healthcare workers’ perceptions, self‑assessed competence, patient safety, and overall satisfaction in this psychiatric hospital setting. Although limited by its retrospective, single‑center design, these findings suggest that refined quality management may serve as a promising strategy for improving hospital outcomes. Further validation through multicenter prospective studies is warranted to confirm the generalizability and sustainability of these effects.

PMID:42469850 | DOI:10.1186/s12913-026-15147-0

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