Abstract

Introduction: Today, Quality Management Systems are widely used in many numbers of hospitals in Iran. But, it still seems important to investigate if with all the expenditure for implementing, settling, registering and maintaining of these systems, there is any meaningful difference in the performance indicators in the hospitals using Quality Management System and the ones lacking it. The aim of this study was to determine the comparison of bed turnover rate between the hospitals using Quality Management System and the ones lacking it in Zanjan province.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, data on the bed turnover indicator of the hospitals in Zanjan province were extracted from the statistical information in the Medical Record Department of hospitals. Instrument for data collection was “Hospital Performance Indicators Form” including bed occupation rate, bed turnover rate and the average length of patient’s stay. To measure content validity, judged of experts (8 expert teachers) was used. Then data were analyzed by SPSS/15 using the independent T-test and the meaningfulness of the difference in this indicator was tested between the hospitals with Quality Management System and the ones without it.

Findings: The bed turnover rate in the hospitals using Quality Management System was 0.81 days with a standard deviation of 0.04, while this rate was 1.02 days with a standard deviation of 0.05 in the hospitals lacking this system. This difference based on P=0.006 was statistically significant.

Conclusion: The hospitals using Quality Management System had better performance in bed turnover than the other hospitals. Therefore, managers can consider this issue in expanding this system.