Why Offer Scheduling of Online Appointments For Patients?

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The online scheduling of appointments and examinations in hospitals, diagnostic centers, and laboratories is no longer a complete novelty, and it has been created with the aim of giving more practicality to patients and reducing costs. It is the way for any company in the health sector want to improve your profit margin, improving the level of patient satisfaction and your credibility in the market. So, how have some hospitals presented unpredictable results? The difference in performance between one institution and another is explained by the quality of the system implemented and by the way in which this new dynamic is integrated into the routine of health institutions.

Most claims against health institutions are generally complaints about inadequate care, wrong information, and long wait time on the phone to schedule an appointment or an exam. The curious thing is to perceive that in the middle of the information age, many hospitals, diagnostic centers, and laboratories insist on carrying out the agendas manually.

Observing that many health institutions still do not have health care equipment planners and appointment scheduling online or use the tool through low-quality solutions, we decided to write this article. We will show the advantages of implementing the system, the errors that should be avoided so that the institution perceives the difference of results of that initiative directly in its monthly financial statements and demonstrations. Come with us:

What advantages do these systems usually bring?

We can start by advancing what an online scheduling system offers:

  • End of the long waiting time for agendas;
  • Flexibility for the patient to schedule their appointment in any of the 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
  • Better overall patient experience;
  • Reduction of costs with the payment of third-party customer service (contact center) or payroll telemarketing attendants when directly supported by the institution;
  • Elimination of scheduling errors;
  • Removal of scheduling of 2 appointments for the same doctor, at the same time due to the failure of communication between employees;
  • Reduction of absenteeism rates with the facilitation of the scheduling flow and availability of alert modules to patients;
  • Credibility and professionalism conferred on the institution.

In practice, we talk about something much more significant than the simple electronic scheduling of medical appointments. That’s because, generally, that functionality is only an integral part of a complete health management system that many state-of-the-art institutions already use. In a broad panorama, we have a robust performance management software that is constituted, a global IT solution in health, whose scheduling of online appointments and exams is only one of its utilities.

Modules of online exam results eliminate a good part of the rows in the reception of the institutions, guarantee operation 24 hours per day, in addition to better management of the flow and variations in the demand and sending of SMS messages as a reminder to the patients regarding the scheduled procedures. Several advantages justify the need of top healthcare consulting firms in India. All without trying the dashboard developed based on Business Intelligence, which presents indicators, data crossing, and issuance of graphical reports beneficial for strategic decision making.

Quality Management: Guarantee of Hospital Accreditation

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The success of a hospital that holds quality certifications, such as accreditation, is fundamentally related to its ability to provide continuity to the best practices in care and administrative management. Manage using quality management tools is what prepares the organization to conquer accreditations. Therefore, we are going to discuss the challenges of hospital administration when we seek to implement a management model aimed at certification.

But first, we require knowing a little about what are the main factors involved in improving the quality of care and how the criteria for hospital accreditation are capable of guiding quality management. Therefore, do not stop reading.

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Focus on quality management

The demands for health services are growing sharply, and prospects are continuously expanding. Consequently, the costs of the institutions for their efficient maintenance and investments also increase. But those costs almost never evolve in the same proportion of the available resources. With this scenario, the real challenge of hospital management is to achieve quality standards that are necessary for the adequate care and to provide better competitive conditions and differentiated remuneration for the institution.

It is necessary to emphasize that the methodologies that will be applied so that the hospital is thriving in the implementation of new standards and the improvement of the processes must attend to the particular needs of the institution. The objective should be quality management so that the value is highlighted not only by patients but by the professionals who act in the hospital.

The role of these methodologies is to change habits, promoting the revision of operational processes and reducing vulnerabilities. In this way, it is possible to transform the positions and expectations so that the entire context can effectively contribute to raising the quality of the care services offered by the hospital.

Hospital accreditation process

An accreditation program aims to standardize processes that promote the improvement of the quality of care perceived by the patient and demonstrated through objective evidence. We emphasize that indicators measure the development and the perception of progress. In practice, it is the hospital certifications and accreditations that show for patients and hospital management consulting company that the hospital operates with methods previously defined by international or national bodies aimed at guaranteeing patient safety and care outcomes. In Brazil, instruments and quality standards for certification are established by NAO – National Accreditation Organization.

Accreditation is an evaluation method of management whose realization is motivated by the initiative of the institution itself. It is not about auditing or licensing; it is a way to check the quality of the organization attributing credibility.

The accreditation process requires the institution to comply with hospital and health infrastructure standards that have a high level of standardization of care processes, guided by best practices and clinical protocols, and that have process indicators, continuously monitored and improved cyclically.

It is necessary, therefore, that an organizational culture of improvement be implemented through training programs and continuing education, anchored in technological solutions to guarantee the efficiency of hospital management.

Hospital management consultancy services helps the hospital to conquer and maintain high levels of quality, and the patient will be the primary beneficiary in that process through the increase in safety and efficiency in the execution of the assistance procedures. As an example, we mentioned the implementation of a pre-surgical checklist so that the name of the patient, the preparation of the surgery, is carefully verified, avoiding any failure.

Importance of Effective Management of Hospitals

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Most large entrepreneurs are likely to agree that in private sector companies the results of work are directly dependent on the effectiveness of management methods. At the same time, the relationship between hospital management methods and the effects of clinical treatment is still a matter for discussion.

And, in the end, the main decisions for the care of patients are taken by the attending physicians, and not the heads of the hospitals. Also, many people are convinced that the effectiveness of medical institutions depends primarily on the availability of the necessary financial means and that increasing funding automatically improves the quality of medical care. Thus, there is still no consensus on what practical application of effective management methods can bring.

In a thorough analysis of the data, we identified five factors that affect the effectiveness of management practices in the hospital and the results of its work. These factors are mostly similar to the parameters that determine the efficiency of production companies. In this regard, we believe that when developing reforms in the healthcare industry, these factors must necessarily be taken into account.

Size of hospital

There is a clear connection between the size of hospitals (based on the number of employees) and the effectiveness of healthcare management consulting in India. In particular, in medical institutions with a large number of staff, the management effectiveness indicators were higher than those of others. Hospitals with less than 100 employees generally demonstrated the lowest results.

Level of competition

The effectiveness of management also depended on the number of competing institutions located near the hospital. The rates of hospitals that did not face competition were significantly lower than those of institutions that had several competitors. At the same time, linear growth of standard performance indicators was noted as the number of competing establishments increased.

There are several reasons why competition can increase the effectiveness of hospital management. In all healthcare systems, managers of health facilities are ready to work more actively with strong competitors, because they can achieve more significant advantages in their environment.

Ownership structure

In all countries covered by our study, private clinics (both commercial and non-profit) in general demonstrate higher management effectiveness than state hospitals.

As a result of careful analysis, it became clear that private hospitals use much more effective methods of personnel management. A possible reason is that such hospitals, unlike public medical institutions, are not required to comply with certain personnel restrictions. For example, private hospitals have greater freedom in hiring professionals and working with staff, as well as in choosing incentives to encourage the most effective employees.

The degree of independence of managers

Is the efficiency of some hospitals because the supervisory authorities carefully monitor their activities? Or have they been successful because their leaders are given the freedom to make independent decisions?

Hospital management consultancy services can help hospitals improve the quality of care and improve financial performance. Thus, the introduction of these methods should be the central element of any programs aimed at controlling overall costs in the healthcare system.

How To Assess The Management of Services in The Hospital?

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Over the last decades, cost control has been the subject of business discussions, mainly in the health sector, since it depends on high investments in equipment (many imported), high-impact logistics organization and technological implementation for monitoring and control of information. But in recent years, it was perceived that treating cost and quality as two incompatible elements was a massive error in the management of services, explaining even the financial collapse of many institutions.

The successful experiences of some reference hospitals in India show that cost is an attribute of quality. That is, the financial chaos that attacks many hospitals, diagnostic centers, diagnostic imaging sectors and health plan administrators originates in the misconception that saving on technology and generating value for the patient is a way of leaving accounts well. In practice, that is giving a certificate of death to the institution. Do you want to know how to attribute more value to the hospital management consultancy in India? Come with us:

The detail that makes any difference in the control of functions

Adding value is not lending the same level of assistance to the health of the competition and charging less for services. It is also not to improve what is already perceived as excellent by patients. It’s not about adding services to add prices. Generate or add value is to advance in relative quality in the services provided by the hospital. Either using subtle reorganizations in the logistics of internal processes or technological implementations that return the most rapid attention, the most personalized care and the full accompaniment, related to the image of the hospital to an entity with empathy and responsibility concerning their patients. That can appear in the midst of small change

The computerization that avoids errors and gives agility to billing

Transformations promoted by technology in the routine of a hospital increase the level of patient satisfaction, strengthen the image of the institution and improve its financial results.

The link with the administrators generates opportunity

Some hospitals began to adopt a holistic view of health, with a focus on emergency care, but also on the whole process of developing and monitoring the health of potential patients. This work can be done much more efficiently with the operators of health plans. The improvement in the link between operator and institution can accelerate the processes of availability of exams, implementation of biometric verification to avoid fraud, as well as joint prevention actions.

Strategies based on health promotion, prevention, recovery, and rehabilitation are excellent for patients (who want to avoid diseases), for the hospital (which can provide much more services) and also for the operator (as the healthy beneficiary reduces the rates of accident rate). If everyone is victorious, why not start with this initiative?

Generating value in the hospital consultancy services is much more than exercising medical knowledge in the treatment and cure of patients. It is the differentiation next to the market, offering something more, whether speed in the attention or permanent accompaniment through IT resources in health  (such as monitoring the health of patients outside the hospital environment with wearable devices for example), in addition to the encouragement to health professionals with the exercise of humanized care. Always developing the quality, of the necessary the unexpected, surpassing the expectations of the patients.

Hospital Management System Optimizes Annual Strategic Planning

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Hospitals are complex organizations that need advanced management methodologies to guarantee levels of excellence. One of the most important concepts, in that sense, is the strategic planning that allows us to draw paths so that the objectives are achieved, helping to make the decision. However, in the era of data and digital transformation, the construction of that plan depends, fundamentally, on technology. The use of a hospital management consultancy in India which keeps a tremendous amount of information generated daily, optimizes the preparation and execution of planning, facilitating access to essential information.

The first step to prepare a plan is the definition of the purpose of the company, defining the reason for its existence. Then, the manager must be guided by the vision (where does the institution want to go?), by the mission (what is its reason for being) and by its values (what are the principles that guide it). And concepts that allow the anticipation of scenarios both to mitigate threats, as well as to embrace opportunities.

Taking into account these factors, it is best to carry out planning that allows embracing the whole year, contemplating actions that the managers must accompany each month. Thus, it is possible to have an interdepartmental and horizontal vision, always prioritizing that activities are aligned not only with the purpose of the institution, its goals, and indicators but also with each other, reciprocally.

Data

The planning must consider the implementation and use of the management system, since it is the data stored by it that helps in the execution of the proposed objectives, determining the directions that must be copied, as well as the necessary corrections of that route. Automating administrative routines, for example, can result in back office economics. Besides, adding intelligence to the management of hospital processes, with analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) tools, provide excellent results.

With technology, hospital management distinguishes in various aspects, especially in the improvement of data quality and in the extraction of insights that serve as support in decision making – a fundamental factor for Health managers. It is also possible to add indicators in systems that can be applied at any stage of the hospital process, facilitating monitoring and tracking progress – and also identifying and correcting errors in the route.

In this context, strategic IT is essential, working together with planning. That is what provides the data that will be evaluated throughout the 12 months, to know if the proposed objectives are being effectively achieved.

Relationship

The hospital management consulting company still allows us to monitor how annual planning impacts the perception of the quality of care by the patient. By optimizing processes with the use of technology, the institution can manage a more individualized medicine, with access to information that makes all the difference in diagnosis and treatment. The greatest assertiveness corresponds to the needs of the person receiving the care – an increasingly demanding client concerning health care.

There is still a change in the perception of the market about the hospital that uses these tools and teleology, which can be a differential in these times of economic crisis. Therefore, planning is the solution to stay active and, more than that, to stand out in this unstable scenario.

Hospital Design is the Most Important Part of Hospital Consulting Planning

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Gone are the days when people used to associate hospitals simply with doctor’s reputation. Nowadays, people want everything including well equipped laboratories, qualified doctors, online availability of the hospital, as well as properly planned space.

Our impression of hospital decoration design in the past was often associated with the feeling of “overcrowding,” “disorderly” and “poor direction.” The occurrence of these conditions was related to the planned economy and development of our country at the time. With the development of science and technology and the continuous improvement of medical standards, people have set higher requirements for the hospital environment.

At the same time, the old hospital environment can no longer meet the requirements of modern medicine, and it is urgent to improve the hospital’s beautiful design environment. Creating a good and comfortable environment has become the focus of hospital designers & planners. The following are discussed separately from the overall plan.

Best Services of hospital designers & planners

As we all know, hospitals should have a relatively quiet surrounding environment, but many hospitals are decorated and designed in the bustling and prosperous areas of the city. The atmosphere of a hospital is, to a large extent, dependent on the merits of the overall plan. Therefore, its floorplan is particularly important. The overall plan includes two aspects. The first is the coordination between the hospital and the surrounding urban environment, that is, the logical layout of various streamlines and controls (the layout of the environment inside and outside the hospital); the second is a good combination of different functional areas within the hospital.

The traffic flow line in hospital decoration design is more complicated, including the flow of people, logistics, traffic, and pollution. Among them, the flow of people includes the streamline of the staff and the streamline of the patient. The streamline of the hospital is inextricably linked with the hospital process. It is a combination of hospital management and hospital decoration design. These streamlines should be both simple and neat, but also avoid crossing each other.

Hospital decoration design is a complex public building in civil construction. With the development of the times and the advancement of science and technology, the old hospital buildings have not adapted to the new requirements of modern clinical medicine for the diagnosis and treatment environment. The internal layout of the hospital building gradually formed a reasonable and effective overall direction for each functional department (outpatient, ward, and medical technology).

In short, the overall planning of the hospital’s decorative design is related to the pros and cons of the hospital’s environmental space. Hospital space planners know the ins and outs of the industry and they work as a consultant of your brand by creating a space that not only suits the needs of patients but also fits in your pocket.

Future Medicine: 7 Main Trends

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The last few years have become iconic for medicine if we talk about the number of new directions, emerging techniques and the introduction of digital technologies. Healthcare blurs the boundaries, opening the door for interaction with all disciplines that can give it a qualitative leap for development. Artificial intelligence and wearable devices are becoming familiar means of organizing a medical process and monitoring a person’s condition.

All these tools are capable of bringing medicine to a new qualitative level, making it more personalized, capable of not only fighting the consequences of diseases but also influencing the causes of illnesses, collecting a large amount of data necessary for understanding cause-effect relationships.

Hospital consulting companies in India will highlight the most interesting directions of high-tech medicine for the nearest five-year period.

  1. Internet of Things for Medicine (IoT)

The means of monitoring the state of health or indicators of physical activity are gaining popularity every year. And, given the rapidly aging population of our planet, we can safely say that devices such as cardiac monitors that can warn of impending heart attack will help to seriously reduce mortality rates, improve disease prevention and reduce the burden on the entire health care system.

The use of the data obtained with IoT can benefit patients, specialists and medical personnel, medical equipment manufacturers and those who pay for the provision of medical services. This will promote the greater independence of patients, better treatment, more effective use of medicines and lower health care costs.

  1. Mobile applications that provide medical support, or health

With the development of digital technologies, mobile applications become an integral part of every person’s life. Therefore, it is not surprising that applications have become one of the leading directions in the development of digital medicine. The main drivers of growth are rapid progress in mobile technologies and applications, an increase in the number of lifestyle-related diseases, and awareness of the possibilities of mobile medicine in emerging markets.

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine

In recent years, skepticism on the part of people about the capabilities of AI has been severely diminished. Now, this technology is perceived as a real assistant in tasks of varying complexity. According to statistics agency Frost & Sullivan, the market for high-tech medical solutions for 2016 was about $ 1 billion.

It is expected that by 2021 these indicators will reach $ 6 billion, with an annual growth of about 40%. In the opinion of the analyst of the same agency, by 2025 artificial intelligence systems will penetrate all spheres of public health, up to the creation of digital assistants, who answer all questions of patients and independently deal with their treatment.

  1. Technology editing the genome

The development of modern technologies led to a real breakthrough in genetic engineering as a method for modifying the genome was developed. The method, of course, is still at the research stage, but it is already clear that the chance to repair problem areas in the gene will give great opportunities for the treatment of many diseases – such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hiring and consulting top hospital consultants in India is therefore, becoming mandatory nowadays.

What are the Specific Challenges Faced By Healthcare Companies, and How Can Business Advice Help Them?

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The market faces several challenges at the same time. Three key points for hospital management consultancy in India are the improvement of cost-effectiveness, the leadership quality and the integration of the various service providers into the processing responsibility.

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Firstly, the hospital market is underfunded. The DRG system is designed to distribute the scarce resources to the various service providers as efficiently as possible. But it can no longer be distributed as is made available, and the mere provision of medical care is neither compensated nor regulated. Economically speaking, the cost of acute care is regulated by patients. The demand for medical care is growing; the personnel costs are rising steadily. On-site service providers need a basic understanding of remuneration and transparency about their cost and income situation to be able to bear their economic responsibility properly.

Secondly, the hierarchical management system, which has been set up for decades in the hospital sector, is increasingly reaching its limits. The young generation Y is no longer involved and withdraws from the grown system. For decades to work beyond the agreed working week, is a model that no longer works. The incentive of an overly attractive reward in the future, when “one has once managed it,” has been eliminated and thus a large part of the competitive pressure.

Today good organizational structures, training and development concepts are being promoted. But the question remains unanswered, which is opposed to the hierarchical leadership system. Many clinics are at the beginning, to deal with questions of the management qualification of their medical staff. Different management cultures in hospitals contribute differently to achieve sustainable organizational development in times of change.

From our point of view, central leadership competence is the empathy. Emphatic leadership and cultural change towards a team-oriented approach to leadership are the key factors for hospital management consulting company sustainable successful change projects. Promoting this requires the necessary fingertip feeling of the consultant.

Thirdly, integrated process management and the elimination of thinking in departmental and professional boundaries is a challenge. Within the scope of the medical care of a patient, countless people work hand-in-hand. The risk management systems of hospitals show that even small incidents or inconsistencies can accumulate to errors with an enormous scope.

Where people work, create errors. To reduce this systematically by clarifying responsibilities and through structured communication processes has a decisive impact on the quality of medical care. Where people are oriented and communicate with each other regardless of their hierarchical position, mistakes are reduced. But there is still a long way to go in hospitals.

What kind of training and know-how do applicants need to make a career in the clinic?

There is a long way to accompany clinics in the organizational development from the strategic concept to the process-oriented implementation. This calls for a constant curiosity and willingness to learn from the consultant, especially in the systemic context. First, a good armor is necessary. There is no way around for a sound training in the management of organizations. But the classic business management instruments should not be blindly familiar in terms of effectiveness.

The Goals of Health Outsourcing

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The expert first points to the central aspect of the issue: the sustainability of the system. Outsourcing of services does not just create a new relationship between public and private, but it allows to create virtuous circles with the consequent saving of resources. But top healthcare consulting firms in India adds to this topic another well-known issue in assessing the opportunities offered by outsourcing: the addition of new professional skills difficult to integrate into the previous model.

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The mix between public and private

It is an old question of the debate on the integration between public and private. The doubts raised by some reside in the fact that private logic cannot guarantee the pursuit of certain purely public goals. A mix, a mix, collaboration, however, that does not exclude one or the other but makes them interact fruitfully seems to be a satisfactory solution.

Integration is already under way, indicating that there has been a radical change of mentality in the public because it has understood the necessity and convenience of having part of its duties to other people who are more likely to do so, thanks also the slimness and flexibility that they can boast over the public. “

A new method of evaluation

One of the most burning issues in public-private integration is the evaluation. In the past, only economically-focused evaluation systems were adopted. The Balanced Scorecard, on the other hand, aims to take account of extra-financial indicators such as patient satisfaction and the quality of the service provided.

The expert states that evaluation is not a “true science” and therefore improvements are always possible. From what is said in the interview it is possible to say that, even in Italy, the integration of the private in the SSN is now an irreversible process. The new service reflects emerging style, which stands out in the market for its ability to partner with customers and listen to their needs, realizing genuine accompaniment and tutoring in system implementation and training.

Advice

Advice is directed to hospitals, clinics, senior residences, personal services and covers the process review, both for regulatory compliance by ISO 9001: 2015 and for the application of specific technical disciplines. Some areas of application may be:

  • Residences for elderly;
  • Medication-assisted procreation centers;
  • Home care and palliative care;
  • Cord blood banks;
  • Blood banks;
  • Top healthcare consulting firms in India (Hematology, Organ Transplants, CSE Transplants, Pediatrics, Operating Rooms);
  • Centers conducting clinical research;

The main feature of hospital consultancy services in India is the application of a methodology that can:

  • comply with binding norms and voluntary standards;
  • safeguard the care of individual services;
  • To ensure an effective improvement in the quality of the service.

Training

The training is addressed to both the operating personnel and the companies operating in the tertiary and hotel sectors and can be targeted as follows:

  • Clinical risk management;
  • Inter professional communication, with particular reference to those who have a direct relationship with the public;
  • Development of skills in the field of social health care with particular reference to the following competences:
  • Efficacy (Lean method);
  • Empathy (passage from empathy to exotics and empowerment);
  • Communication (Communication skill);

Assertiveness.

Standards for Hospital Certification

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Through the certification of ISO standards, it is intended to guarantee compliance with a series of internationally recognized requirements and good practices on different aspects, such as quality, risk and safety management, and the environment or social responsibility, among others. However, these are not the only certificates that exist nationally and internationally, although they are some of the most recognized.

The certification of hospitals is the process through which the work of this type of centers is recognized according to the requirements established in the regulations of the hospital sector. These requirements are called standards and are those that set the level of quality of the health care service.

When a hospital is certified by the authorities of the sector, it means that it satisfactorily fulfills issues such as security and patient care, optimal resources, hospital safety and social welfare. But the certification of hospital services is not the same as that of any product circulating in a given market. What, then, are the scales to measure the quality of said services? How are they established? How can top hospital consulting firms in India help you?

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Types of hospital care standards

To make the audit work easier, the top hospital consultants in India responsible for the hospital certification process have established two types of standards: some focused on patient safety and others related to the management of the centers.

  1. PATIENT SAFETY:

Access to the attention and continuity of it. These are the minimum elements that a hospital center must have to provide its services. A center that does not guarantee access to it or the continuity of treatments cannot exercise quality medical work.

Rights of the patient and the family. The centers must carry out their work within the framework of dignity, respect, good treatment and the right to privacy.

Evaluation of patients. Likewise, medical diagnoses must be efficient and timely. The evolution of the cases depends on them.

Anesthesia and surgical care. It is one of the hospital services that require more rigor and attention. In general, the centers specialized in this type of intervention have an added value.

Management and use of medications. The responsibility of the treatments and the level of the opportunity of each of them is valued.

Education of the patient and his family. That is the work of accompaniment, advice, and help during medical processes or treatments. In this section, the psychological orientation can be derived from the hospital service.

  1. MANAGEMENT OF THE CENTERS:

Management of communication and information. Those responsible for hospital centers must know when to issue certain messages and when not. In this aspect, clarity, opportunity, and truth must prevail.

Prevention and control of infections. Hospital centers must be clean places and where health conditions are guaranteed.

Government, leadership, and direction. The positioning of hospitals depends, to a large extent, on those in charge of their management. The decisions taken from the managerial level will influence the progress and prestige of the centers.

Security of the facilities. Anything that happens in a hospital must be properly identified and regulated by internal regulations.

Training and education of the personnel. It is essential that the personnel that is part of the hospital centers be updated not only in the specific topics of their exercise but also in others such as training in values, human rights, attention to the public, teamwork, risks professionals, etc.