Development of a strategic public health management process at Nonsuwan Hospital, Buriram Province

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the situation, develop, and evaluate the strategic public health management process of Nonsuwan Hospital, Buriram Province, under the PDCA framework. The study was conducted from July 2022 to July 2023. The sample consisted of 115 personnel involved in strategic public health management from the hospital and its health service network. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The findings revealed key problems, including limited understanding of strategic management among personnel, inadequate quality of medical record data, and the lack of a systematic monitoring system. The developed process comprised five main components: (1) strategic planning, (2) organizational indicator monitoring, (3) program and project management, (4) medical record quality auditing, and (5) monitoring and evaluation. Following implementation, the proportion of organizational indicators meeting the criteria increased to 80.77%, and the quality of outpatient diagnostic coding improved from 63.26% to 86.82%. The overall evaluation of the process based on the PDCA framework was at a high level (Mean = 4.22, SD = 0.68), and personnel satisfaction was also at a high level (Mean = 4.48, SD = 0.54). The findings suggest that improving the quality of medical record data is associated with strategic decision-making at the organizational level. The developed process may be applicable to community hospitals with limited resources in similar contexts, provided that there is adequate hospital information system support and continuous data quality management.