Policies and Procedures 

A policies and procedures document is just not needed to comply with certain privacy and information security frameworks, and hospital accreditation but also to inform employees in a hospital setting of both the acceptable and unacceptable methods of performing their work duties.

Without these documents, employees would have no idea what practices the organisation prohibits or what they consider the best way to perform a certain job function.

Nonetheless, the majority of staff in a hospital setting rather yawn and dread work they perceive to be boring and tiresome when the words “policies and procedures” is stated.

That’s okay, they are correct; creating these documents can be time-consuming and tedious.

However, staff must become aware and take into account the ROI of developing, putting into practice, and consistently referring to rules and procedures.

Once it is initiated and put into effect, I think this document is a fantastic teaching resource for staff members, outsiders, and even consumers about the processes of the hospital.

It’s important to note that a hospital should only put in the policy what staff are going to do and what they are going to be able to do on a consistent basis.

Hence useful policies and procedures are among the things that are more advantageous to a compliance program, and they should not be ignored.

Malaysia’s National Policy for Quality in Healthcare 2022 – 2026

A National Policy for Quality in Health Care sets out a Government’s primary objectives to assure quality in health care and continuously improve the care. 

We know that quality is never an accident, always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution. Moreover, it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.

The Malaysian Institute for Health Systems Research (IHSR), in a partnership with the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH), jointly and successfully organised to an overwhelming response to participate in the National Seminar for Quality in Healthcare free virtual seminar on October 5, 2021.

It comes when the public health care system is in dire need of refocusing its collective efforts towards improving the quality of care provided for the whole health system – public and private.

Highlights of the virtual seminar included the launching of the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare(NPQH) and a keynote address by Tan Sri Dato’Seri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, the Director-General of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia(MoHIM). He, in turn, launched the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare document.

This day-long seminar had many distinguished Malaysian speakers, including Dr. Samsiah Awang, Head, Centre for Healthcare Quality Research Initiative for Health Systems Research(IHSR), Datuk Dr. Kuljit Singh, the President of the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia(APHM), Dr. Nor’ Aishah Abu Bakar, Deputy Director, Medical Care Quality Section(MoHM), and Dr. Fadzilah Shaik Allaudin, Senior Deputy Director of the Planning Division(MoHM).

Distinguished invited speakers were the Director, HEALTHQUAL, Institute for Clinical Health Sciences, UCSF, Prof. Dr. Bruce Agins, Dr. Shams Syed, and Ms. Nana A. Mensah-Abrampah. Both Shams and Nana are from the Department of Integrated Health Services, World Health Organisation, Geneva.

The many exciting topics represented ranged from National Quality Policy and Strategy: The Global Imitative/Perspective, National Policy for Quality in Healthcare for Malaysia: Where Are We Heading?, Clinical Governance and its impact on Quality in a Private Hospital, Safety and Quality in Digital Health and Innovation, Malaysian Patient Safety Goals 2.0: Concise and Practical, Compassion: The Heart of Quality and Improving Quality of Care in Resource-Limited Settings.

You may view a flipbook of the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare from (this link will open in a new tab of your current browser window) http://library.nih.gov.my/e-doc/flipbook/npqh-2022-2026/index.html

As I see it, this Malaysian version of a National Policy for Quality in Healthcare document attempts to provide all public and private health officials with the strategic direction they need to follow to assure quality in health care and continuous improvement in the healthcare provided in Malaysia.