The impact of technology on quality in healthcare services

The healthcare sector faces various pressures, such as demographic changes, population aging, the emergence of new treatments and technologies, and increasing demands to improve the quality of services provided in order to remain competitive. At the same time, high-quality care is considered a right for all patients and a responsibility of the entire hospital staff. Compared to most other service sectors, healthcare services exhibit certain unique characteristics, including high complexity, while the economic and human consequences of poor quality are significant. Consequently, the demand for high-quality care continues to rise, and evidence suggests that hospital care quality can be further improved. To achieve this, caregivers must know what to do, how to do it, and be capable of improving care processes.

Research indicates that high-quality services contribute to retaining existing clients and attracting new ones, reducing costs, enhancing corporate reputation, generating positive word-of-mouth, and ultimately improving profitability. Beyond these factors, there is an increasing international interest in leveraging the potential of new technologies to enhance the quality and safety of healthcare. This often entails higher costs and large-scale expenditures on e-health initiatives, which are frequently justified by the argument that they represent effective and cost-efficient means to improve healthcare delivery.

Aim: The purpose of this dissertation is to systematically review the published literature and explore the potential impact of new technologies on the quality of health care.

Material and methods: A review of the literature, written in the English language, was carried out on PubMed for the period of January 2007 to July 2017. The eligibility criteria for study inclusion were developed using the acronym PICOS. The initial search resulted in 13200 articles, followed by restrictions on the type of studies (systematic reviews), the availability of the text of the articles (free full-text availability), the date of publication (01/01/2007 - 10/07/2017) and the reference population (human species). The final sample consisted of 18 studies.