efqm-based self-assessment of quality management in hospitals affiliated to kerman university of medical sciences

background and objectives: there is a growing tendency in iran’s health sector for adoption of standard excellence models for improving quality in healthcare organizations. the european foundation of quality management (efqm) model is a widely used framework for continuous quality management within healthcare facilities. the purpose of this article is to extend the view of current status of quality management in iran’s hospital industry by reporting the details of an efqm-based self-assessment of quality management in hospitals of kerman university of medical sciences.   methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted over the period of october to december 2011 by enrolling heads of departments and chief executive officers of all the four university hospitals of kerman, the capital of kerman province in southern iran (n = 69). the standard efqm questionnaire was used to measure quality management. reliability of the assessment tool was determined by calculating chronbach’s alpha coefficient. the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.   findings: the criteria ‘process’ and ‘customer results’ scored above 60%, and other criteria scored within the range of 50% to 60%. while ‘process’ gained the highest score of 62.9%, the lowest score of 52.1% was received by ‘key performance results’. scores appeared to be overestimated compared to those gained by pioneer healthcare settings in developed countries. however, the scores were found more realistic in comparison with those in precedent domestic studies, suggesting a trend of gradual improvement of quality management knowledge and self-assessment skill.   conclusions: the data suggest that the criteria ‘people’ and ‘resource and partnership’ are of a high priority for improvement in order to reach satisfactory ‘key performance results’.