Quality and safety management in the concept of the healthcare system in the Czech

___________________________________________________________________________ Purpose: The completion of a survey across selected hospitals in the Czech Republic and to check the status of the implementation of healthcare quality and safety management in hospitals in the Czech Republic. Materials and methods: The study was conducted by the Czech Association of Nurses, the largest Czech professional nurses’ organization, which is oriented towards creation of effective tools for ensuring safe and high-quality provision of nursing care. The investigation was held from September 2011 to February 2012 and the chosen healthcare facilities were selected from a group of institutions that were preparing for implementation of a quality management system or which have already implemented such a system. The criterion for selection of respondents was involvement in the Tracking falls among hospitalized patients project. A total of 38 hospital facilities in the Czech Republic were addressed and received questionnaires. The questionnaire contained a total of 31 questions, which were focused mainly on the area A total of 34 completed questionnaires were returned. Statistical analysis was done on the basis of the evaluation of the questionnaires. Results: The survey shows that 77.78% of the surveyed healthcare facilities have implemented a long-term strategy for the implementation or maintenance of a management system and healthcare quality assurance. The remainder of the addressed facilities is either preparing such a strategy or has yet to plan such a strategy. Conclusions: Hospital healthcare facilities are often evaluated with an eye towards economic performance (profitability) and avoidance of longterm loss. Yet the healthcare provided is not fully linked to the payment system of healthcare payers. We conclude that the decision-making process of the patient does not depend on the quality of the healthcare facility, even though this information can be found on the web portals of individual healthcare facilities. We conclude that patient does not make its decision according to the quality of the healthcare facility. Even though, the information of quality of the healthcare facility is available on web portals of every facility.