Improving the Quality of Healthcare Services through Information and Quality Interrelation

Abstract

The ongoing information revolution calls for the exploitation of new information services that may set to support the traditional quality management approaches in healthcare. The developments in information and communication technologies offer new opportunities, with the need for effective information management grow ing within it. This chapter addresses the following issues: What might be an approach for quality management considering the rapid advances of information technology and the growth of the “new economy”? What might be the contribution of library and information services in the improvement of the healthcare services quality? In order to study the aforementioned questions, initially the information requirements of well known quality management approaches such as ISO 9001:2000 and EFQM are investigated and thereafter, the role of library and information services is discussed. The design of library and information services for the support of quality is an interesting and innovative area of research within healthcare services.