The trend of hospital quality improvement literature publication and the hospital accreditation standards in Thailand

Piyatida Kumnerdsing¹, Rada Jibsamanboon¹, Suppachai Insuk^2,*

 

1. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University

2. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University

 

*Corresponding author’s email address: suppachaii@nu.ac.th

 

The Hospital Accreditation Institutions have published five editions of hospital and health service standards for Thailand (HA Standards). Evidence of the effect of the HA Standards on the volume of publications focusing on quality improvement is lacking, though. The goal of this study is to compare the patterns of literature published on hospital quality improvement before and after Thailand's adoption of the HA Standards.

 

By conducting a literature search in Thai and foreign databases using Thai and English search terms related to hospitals and health service standards, a descriptive study was carried out. The limited search window ran from 2003 to 2021. The literature documenting data collection in Thailand was included. Excluded were textbooks, clinical recommendations, and duplicate republications. The interrupted time series method was used to analyze the publication trend.

 

There were a total of 1,026 pieces of literature, with the majority (75.54%) being descriptive studies conducted in government hospitals and the remaining (74.46%) focusing on an organizational management overview. The findings indicate that the adoption of the third standard is associated with a 7.191% increase in publications (P = 0.220), and the adoption of the fourth standard is associated with a significant increase in publications of 19.66% (P = 0.016).

 

There have been more publications on healthcare quality improvement since the publication of the 4th edition of the HA Standard. This could be the outcome of growing interest in raising hospital quality. To investigate factors that might specifically contribute to an increase in publications, however, more research is required.