The SMART concept means that objectives and goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. To develop effective indicators for evaluating healthcare performance, one must set achievable goals and objectives and add value to the company (World Health Organization, 2019).
In healthcare, this means that the goals and objectives are set to add value to the health system and improve patient quality of life. SMART goals in healthcare allow nurses and other healthcare providers to know what they are working towards achieving. It also gives them a scope of what is required of them and the activities they need to engage in. Many factors drive an administration’s goals, like codes and statutes, funders, accreditation, and other plans. However, when setting goals, starting with an institution’s needs might not be the right place to start, even though it is often the easiest or most intuitive.
Setting measurable goals means that healthcare providers have a guide on what is expected of them within the facility. This also enables supervisors and other leaders to know how they will evaluate service providers. Assessing the performance skills of service providers helps health managers identify the strengths and areas to be improved. Measurable goals within the healthcare department should be drawn depending on the type of care according to the patient’s needs. The needs set should also be achievable, relevant, and reasonable. They should also be attainable with the available resources and are result-based (Dai & Menhas, 2020). The goals set by the organization need to be concerning healthcare provision and that every worker in the establishment can work towards achieving. Health managers also need to create a time scope within which all the goals and objectives are set. By setting a time frame, healthcare providers are able to create activities and work that fits the deadlines. This enables them to create a plan through which they can work within the provided time.
Health managers need to make decisions based on the time frame and the kind of objectives that they have set. Some of the measures of quality they can use for their evaluation can be based on the type of sickness they are providing care for.
Quality measurement that aims to monitor and address problems related to specific diseases will likely require disease-specific indicators that give an insight into how care is provided for that particular group of patients. (World Health Organization, 2019). Quality problems related to the effectiveness of care are likely to require a rate-based mechanism and are best realized by getting feedback from the patients (Sibley et al., 2020). This means that whichever health evaluation method they choose to use is in line with the SMART goals and relevant to the type of department they are dealing with.
As a healthcare manager, I would use the SMART goals concept to monitor and improve the healthcare provided by my organization. Creating SMART goals as a healthcare manager is an excellent way of inviting my colleagues and community members to work together to promote community health and equity. SMART goals provide structure and direction to the services offered, showing progress and room for improvement and communicating its impact on the people around them (Dai & Menhas, 2020). It is also an effective way of knowing how customers feel about services offered in the healthcare department.
References
Dai, J., & Menhas, R. (2020). Sustainable development goals, sports and physical activity: the localization of health-related sustainable development goals through sports in China: a narrative review. Risk management and healthcare policy, 13, 1419. Web.
Sibley, C., Ayers, C., King, B., Browning, T., & Kwon, J. K. (2020). Decreasing patient dwell times for outpatient cardiac nuclear medicine studies: the benefits of SMART goals, scope limitations, and society guidelines in quality improvement. Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology, 49(5), 333-336. Web.
World Health Organization. (2019). Improving healthcare quality in Europe characteristics, effectiveness and implementation of different strategies: characteristics, effectiveness and implementation of different strategies. Web.