The Impact of Critical Total Quality Management Practices on Hospital Performance in the Ministry of Health Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Total Quality Management (TQM) offers a method for solving quality and patient safety problems and bringing significant improvement to hospital performance. However, only few studies have been conducted in this area in developing countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia. This research is carried out in an attempt to address this gap, exploring the impact of applying TQM practices on hospital performance in the Saudi Ministry of Health hospitals. The study has included 4 hospitals in Tabuk Region, namely, King Khaled Hospital, King Fahad Hospital, Maternity and Children Hospital, and Hagel General Hospital. The data collection was done by the researcher when 400 questionnaires were distributed using a convenient sampling technique to access the required data. The response rate was 67.25% of the total questionnaires distributed. The TQM practices used in the study were as follows: leadership, employee management, information analysis, training, customer focus, continuous improvement, process management, and supplier management. The findings of the research show a significant positive correlation between the 8 practices of TQM and hospital performance with a correlation coefficient r value of 0.9 (P = .0001). The study also reveals that Saudi hospitals are facing difficulties in engaging the clinical staff in their quality initiative. Moreover, our findings show that accredited hospitals have significantly applied TQM practices more than unaccredited hospitals.