Developing a proposal of performance indicators for the Hospital District of South Ostrobothnia’s pathology department

Abstract

A pathology department in Finland, part of the organization Hospital District of South Ostrobothnia (also known as Etelä-Pohjanmaan sairaanhoitopiiri, EPSHP), lacked established performance indicators. Pathology is a field of medicine that plays a vital role in the cancer patient’s care path with other healthcare units. Public healthcare organizations are expected to provide high-quality diagnoses effectively and efficiently within the approved time frames. To better meet this expectation, evaluate its performance, and improve operations, the EPSHP’s pathology department contributed to this study. The goal of this research was to develop a proposal of performance indicators and objectives for the EPSHP’s pathology department. To accomplish the research objective, a framework to categorize performance indicators and objectives had to be discovered, EPSHP’s performance reporting guidelines had to be identified, and a pathology department’s core activities needed to be described. A qualitative case study research was applied in this research, and the data of this study was accumulated from secondary and primary data. Secondary data was compiled from the EPSHP’s organizations and pathology department’s documents via document analysis. EPSHP’s pathology department’s employees were interviewed in groups with semi-structured questions to assemble primary data. The results of this study provided a proposal of performance indicators and objectives for the EPSHP’s pathology department. The proposed performance indicators and objectives were categorized under the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model’s four perspectives in tables; learning and growth, process, customer, and financial. The EPSHP’s strategy’s objectives, structure, and performance information reporting categorization directed the selection of the BSC model as a framework. The EPSHP’s budget, action and economic plan, and annual report serve as guidelines that guide the performance reporting of the pathology department and the selection of performance indicators. EPSHP’s pathology department provides studies and diagnoses from tissue and cell samples to special healthcare units and healthcare centers within EPSHP. The pathology department has two customers, the units that request to study patients’ samples and patients. The EPSHP’s pathology department’s goals are to guarantee competent employee resources and the well-being of staff, stay within turnaround times, have a cost-efficient process, provide high-quality services and products for customers, and aim to budget realization. The study’s proposed 17 performance indicators help to provide a balanced understanding of the EPSHP’s pathology department’s performance, improve processes, and ensure its operations align with the EPSHP’s strategy.