The quality in the healthcare services is important for the provision of healthcare treatment for the patients. Its main dimensions relate to human resources, organization and procedures, and the outcomes from the services offered to patients. The methods available for the improvement of quality levels have to do with Total Quality Management, systems for quality assurance and quantitative methods relevant to quality and the relationship between cost and benefit. The role of the human factor for the improvement of quality through Donabedian’s conceptual framework is substantial, since it is related to all three dimensions comprising healthcare services. Finally, as far as the implementation of quality improvement programmes in hospitals, in Greece and abroad, it has been found that Greece lacks behind other developed EU and OECD countries, due to the absence of organized and systematic activity on quality assurance and development of relative quality programmes.
Keywords: service quality, health professionals, Donabedian, Total Quality Management, quality assurance