Service Performance Indicators Research Articles

Controlled observational study and economic evaluation of the effect of city-centre night-time alcohol intoxication management services on the emergency care system compared with usual care

BackgroundAlcohol intoxication management services (AIMS) provide an alternative care pathway for alcohol-intoxicated adults otherwise requiring emergency department (ED) services and at times of high incidence. We estimate the effectiveness and...

Удосконалення стоматологічної допомоги військовослужбовцям Збройних Сил України у відповідності до вимог стандартів НАТО

Мета. Наукове обґрунтування шляхів удосконалення стоматологічної допомоги військовослужбовцям ЗС України через досягнення сумісності медико-технологічних документів надання стоматологічної допомоги із стандартами НАТО.
 Методи дослідження. Методологія дослідження базувалася на системному підході. Для вирішення поставлених завдань застосовувались наступні методи досліджень: системного аналізу (системно-історичний; системно-структурний; системно-елементний; системно-комунікативний) і методи статистичного аналізу. 
 Результати. У ході дослідження проаналізовані показники роботи стоматологічної служби ЗС України під час виконання миротворчих місій (Ліберія, Конго) та в умовах ведення АТО/ООС. Досліджені стандарти НАТО з організації стоматологічної допомоги в умовах ведення збройного конфлікту та визначені можливі напрямки удосконалення стоматологічної допомоги військовослужбовцям ЗС України шляхом адаптування вітчизняних стандартів до стандартів НАТО. Матеріали дослідження знайшли своє відображення у розробленому колективом стоматологічної служби ЗС України “Збірнику локальних клінічних протоколів надання стоматологічної допомоги військовослужбовцям з основними хворобами органів порожнини рота в зоні проведення бойових дій” (2017 р.), які на сьогодні використовуються лікарями-стоматологами ЗС України в практичній діяльності.
 Висновки. Проведене дослідження дозволяє стверджувати, що наявна організаційно-штатна структура стоматологічної служби ЗС України дозволяє в повному обсязі застосувати стандарти НАТО та адаптувати алгоритми і протоколи надання медичної допомоги військовослужбовцям ЗС України при пораненнях в ЩЛД в умовах ведення збройного конфлікту

Monitoring of high-yield and periodical processes in health care.

Statistical control charts have found valuable applications in health care, having been largely adopted from operations research in manufacturing. However, the most common types are not best-suited to monitor high-yield processes (outcomes comprising true/false fractions, 'near-zero') and periodical processes (characterized by sequences of single populations of finite sizes), but rather to monitor variable vital signs levels and, to a lesser degree, service performance indicators. We discuss control charts that are most suitable for fraction non-conforming measurements. We focus particularly on high-yield and periodical processes, i.e. range in which out-of-control conditions are expected and should be identified. For these conditions, we discuss control charts based on the family of hypergeometric distributions, explaining and comparing their application to more traditional alternatives with two health care case studies. We demonstrate that hypergeometric-type control charts provide higher sensitivity in timely identification of changing rare event fractions and are well-suited for monitoring of periodical processes, while remaining more resistant to false alarms, versus their alternatives.

Methodology of dynamic factor influence of services on security subsystems that ensure comprehensive security of enterprises

Introduction. In the structure of management of industrial enterprises, it is necessary to create an integrated safety and security system, which has already become traditional and includes sectoral areas (industrial and fi re safety, labor safety, environmental and information security, anti-terrorism security of the facility). The statistics confi rm the facts that the major part of determined hazards is caused by the human factor, including shortcomings (gaps) in the fi eld of impact of personnel of industrial and fi re safety services, labor safety, information security and anti-terrorism security, environmental security (hereinafter – services) on the supervised safety subsystems. To solve this problem, a methodological basis is presented in obtaining indicators of the infl uence (impact) of each of the services, that allows to reveal vulnerabilities in management of considered integrated safety and security system.Methods of research. Approaches using existing methods in integrated safety and security of the enterprises are analyzed, and the features of their application are considered. At the stage of analytical research, it is proposed to apply the method of direct determined factor analysis, which makes it possible to specify the indicators of factor infl uence, divide them into components. At the stage of synthesizing the obtained analytical results, it is offered to apply the method of the objective tree on the basis of inverse calculations allowing to receive coeffi - cients of increment (decrease) of gaps (erroneous actions) of service personnel arising in the dynamic process of their employment relations.Problem statement. The statistical data of fi res at the enterprises of electric power industry of the Russian Federation were processed. The coeffi cients of characteristic infl uence (direct, indirect) were determined. It was necessary to solve the problem with dynamic presentation of service performance indicators (by years) to identify those areas that require the formation of management instructions by the head of the enterprise.Problem solution. The example of inverse problem solution based on the construction of the objective tree, which is characterized by ease of use, visibility, dynamism, universality and uniformity is presented.Conclusion. The results obtained can be integrated as an embedding into an expert or intelligent management system created at the enterprise (for example SAP).

Analysis of barriers to perceived service quality in Ghana: Students’ perspectives on bus mobility attributes

The quality of bus transport to school and its synergistic effects on school attendance, quality teaching, and learning are best measured using experiences and perceptions of users. The study sought to investigate 43 obstacles to the delivery of quality bus service via 20 selected private schools in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana. The survey was an exploratory case study which focused on the use of a questionnaire. Survey participants of 403 students were selected to respond, using the probability sampling technique. Descriptive statistics were used to define essential socio-demographic and bus service-related characteristics and their effects on schoolchildren's mobility decision-making as well as academic work. Exploratory factor analysis was used to construct four latent factors which describe obstacles to perceived service quality (PSQ) delivery. The theoretical factor structure of the data was tested using confirmatory factor analysis in AMOSS 23. Simultaneously, path analysis was employed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of barriers to PSQ in the private schools' transport system. The principal component analysis highlighted four constructs as barriers to bus PSQ in the municipality: (1) perceived scheduling and routing barriers, (2) perceived safety and bus attribute barriers, (3) pedestrian and bus stop facilities barriers and (4) efficiency, effectiveness, and equity-related barriers. We recommend that Private School Authorities and Municipal Board of Education adopt policies and draft operational safety and guideline manuals that clarify acceptable bus service delivery benchmarks and performance indicators for schools.

The analysis of financially sustainable management strategies of urban water distribution network under increasing block tariff structure: A system dynamics approach

Financially self-sustainable management of urban water infrastructure assets in IBTs structure is a significant challenge faced by policy makers. In this paper, a novel causal loop diagram is developed to model dynamics of feedback loops and interactions between physical, financial, and consumers’ sectors in order to assess financially sustainable management strategies of water distribution networks in IBTs structure. Developing a system dynamics (SD) model for policy analysis of urban water management according to IBTs structure, is the main contribution of this research. In the presented model, results of different financial and rehabilitation strategies are compared by means of financial, environmental, social, and service performance indicators. The proposed model is implemented for Isfahan province in Iran, demonstrating that prices set to finance full cost of the service through higher blocks of consumption decrease annual fee hike rate of lower blocks of consumption. However, penalizing higher blocks has no considerable impact on the amount of total water volume purchased. Households outflow to the lower blocks slows down the growth rate of utility’s revenue that consequently results in deterioration of network pipes and leakage. Larger price differentials between consumption blocks causes reduction in the utility’s revenue and underlines the need for debt-based financing.

Developing key performance indicators for hospital facilities management services: a developing country perspective

PurposeKey performance indicators (KPIs) help to monitor performance, thereby revealing the gap between planned and executed results relative to organizational objectives. The purpose of this paper is to develop KPIs for performance measurement of facilities management (FM) services in public hospitals.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a comprehensive literature review of KPIs in FM, a set of KPIs were first selected. This was then subjected to content validation by experts. Thereafter a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify participants perception on the level of importance of the proposed KPIs. The main analytical tool used was SPSS factor analysis/principal component extraction.FindingsAdapting an expanded balanced scorecard typology, the paper identifies 17 KPIs, which are useful for performance improvement of FM. The study also introduces new financial dimensions beyond the traditional cost and profit-centered metrics.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to three FM services. Although the results of the Kruskal–Wallis test shows no significant difference in the level of importance on more than 80% of the indicators, larger sample is required in future studies to examine indicator preference for the respective services. An empirical study to test the proposed indicators to measure FM performance could also be a next step.Originality/valueThe paper presents the first step to develop performance indicators, which are of relevance to FM performance measurement and could be utilized to improve performance. The indicators are largely generic and can easily be adapted by other FM service sectors for performance measurement.

End-to-end network slicing for future wireless in multi-region cloud platforms

End-to-end network slicing is an auspicious paradigm, which promises to lead the way towards efficiently addressing the problems of legacy networks. Based on softwarization and virtualization, it is capable of enabling network as a service (NaaS) and allowing the coexistence of multiple networks on the same physical infrastructure. These features make network slicing suitable for 5G by fostering the defined service performance and key performance indicators (KPIs). In this paper, we propose and implement an end-to-end slicing solution for multi-region cloud platforms. This solution leverages enablers like SDN and NFV and works in conjunction with our wireless testbed featuring fully virtualized and programmable systems that can be suitably installed and packaged for agile deployment. We conducted experiments to evaluate the performance regarding important KPIs such as: deployment time, management and reconfiguration, latency, and QoS characteristics. We present evaluations to validate the proposed slicing model and demonstrate its applicability for future wireless systems.

A patient-level key performance indicator set to measure the effectiveness of fracture liaison services and guide quality improvement: a position paper of the IOF Capture the Fracture Working Group, National Osteoporosis Foundation and Fragility Fracture Network

SummaryThe International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Capture the Fracture® Campaign with the Fragility Fracture Network (FFN) and National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) has developed eleven patient-level key performance indicators (KPIs) for fracture liaison services (FLSs) to guide quality improvement.IntroductionFracture Liaison Services (FLSs) are recommended worldwide to reduce fracture risk after a sentinel fracture. Given not every FLS is automatically effective, the IOF Capture the Fracture working group has developed and implemented the Best Practice Framework to assess the organisational components of an FLS. We have now developed a complimentary KPI set that extends this assessment of performance to the patient level.MethodsThe Capture the Fracture working group in collaboration with the Fragility Fracture Network Secondary Fragility Fracture Special Interest Group and National Osteoporosis Foundation adapted existing metrics from the UK-based Fracture Liaison Service Database Audit to develop a patient-level KPI set for FLSs.ResultsEleven KPIs were selected. The proportion of patients: with non-spinal fractures; with spine fractures (detected clinically and radiologically); assessed for fracture risk within 12 weeks of sentinel fracture; having DXA assessment within 12 weeks of sentinel fracture; having falls risk assessment; recommended anti-osteoporosis medication; commenced of strength and balance exercise intervention within 16 weeks of sentinel fracture; monitored within 16 weeks of sentinel fracture; started anti-osteoporosis medication within 16 weeks of sentinel fracture; prescribed anti-osteoporosis medication 52 weeks after sentinel fracture. The final KPI measures data completeness for each of the other KPIs. For these indicators, levels of achievement were set at the < 50%, 50–80% and > 80% levels except for treatment recommendation where a level of 50% was used.ConclusionThis KPI set compliments the existing Best Practice Framework to support FLSs to examine their own performance using patient-level data. By using this KPI set for local quality improvement cycles, FLSs will be able to efficiently realise the full potential of secondary fracture prevention and improved clinical outcomes for their local populations.

Response letter to the editor “Development and validation of key performance indicators for medication management services provided for outpatients” [Res Social Adm Pharm 15 (9) (2019) 1080-7

Response letter to the editor “Development and validation of key performance indicators for medication management services provided for outpatients” [Res Social Adm Pharm 15 (9) (2019) 1080-7

Shared autonomous electric vehicle service performance: Assessing the impact of charging infrastructure

Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are the next major evolution in urban mobility. This technology has attracted much interest of car manufacturers aiming at playing a role as transportation network companies (TNCs) and carsharing agencies in order to gain benefits per kilometer and per ride. It is predicted that the majority of future SAVs would most probably be electric. It is therefore important to understand how limited vehicle range and the configuration of charging infrastructure will affect the performance of shared autonomous electric vehicle (SAEV) services. In this study, we aim to explore the impacts of charging station placement, charging types (including normal and rapid charging, and battery swapping), and vehicle battery capacities on service efficiency. We perform an agent-based simulation of SAEVs across the Rouen Normandie metropolitan area in France. The simulation process features impact assessment by considering dynamic demand responsive to the network and traffic.Research results suggest that the performance of SAEVs is strongly correlated with the charging infrastructure. Importantly, faster charging infrastructure and placement of charging locations according to minimized distances between demand hubs and charging stations result in a higher performance. Further analysis indicates the importance of dispersing charging stations across the service area and its impacts on service effectiveness. The results also underline that SAEV battery capacity has to be selected carefully such that to avoid the overlaps between demand and charging peak times. Finally, the simulation results show that the performance indicators of SAEV service are significantly improved by providing battery swapping infrastructure.

ПОВЫШЕНИЕ КАЧЕСТВА ТАМОЖЕННЫХ УСЛУГ В РАМКАХ РАБОТЫ ЦЕНТРОВ ЭЛЕКТРОННОГО ДЕКЛАРИРОВАНИЯ

The article provides an overview of the application of advanced technologies of electronic interaction between customs and participants of foreign economic activity. The article also provides an overview of the methods of personnel activities management depending of the Customs service performance indicators. At the same time, the authors describe the current state of creation and implementation of electronic customs, as well as identify problematic issues related to their functioning.

THE INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION MULTISERVICE NETWORK NGN/IMS FOR MULTIMEDIA TRAFFIC

The subject of the study is multiservice communication network using the concept NGN (Next Generation Network) based on the open network architecture IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem), supporting a wide range services. The basis of this architecture is the IMS core, consisting of a set of specialized modules responsible for various functions for customer service. The purpose of the article is to analyze the existing technical capabilities of the IMS multimedia messaging subsystem and perspective solutions for the functioning of the NGN/IMS network efficiency in providing multimedia service. As the efficiency of the system, the capacity NGN/IMS networks is selected using the signaling system and protocols NGN. The capacity NGN/IMS networks during the establishment of a multimedia session was analyzed and the functional architecture of the IMS multimedia messaging subsystem that determine the interaction NGN signaling systems an protocols was explored. Manage the presentation Triple Play services to subscribers and simultaneously modify the media stream within the session allows the protocol for the initialization of the SIP and Diameter sessions, which are the main IMS signaling protocol. One of the important requirements for the IMS subsystem is the maintenance QoS (Quality of Service). A mathematical model for estimating the quality of communication services using a system GI/G/1/N based on the theory diffusion approximation is proposed. The research presented in this paper is very important for the theory queuing systems, since the article proposes a method for investigating multiservice communication networks with non-Poisson incoming flow and effective results are obtained for NGN/IMS networks. On the basis of the model analytical expressions are obtained, which allow evaluating the performance indicators of the Triple Play service. The proposed mathematical model can be used to solve a wide range of practical problems, including the management multiservice traffic in the process its transmission in multiservice telecommunications networks, taking into account the quality of service classes. Thus, studies NGN/IMS network capacity indicators using SIP protocols are relevant.

Study of the effective performance of the diesel engine when working on methanol and methyl ether rapeseed oil

The experience of solving the world’s environmental problems from the use of diesel engines allowed us to develop numerous ways to solve them, including the transfer to work on alternative fuels. The article presents the classification of alternative fuels. The article discusses the use of biofuel for the diesel engine. The use of alternative biofuels with different chemical composition and local conditions leads to the distinctive performance of the diesel engine. Therefore, for the scientific representation of the actual picture of the power and economic indicators of the diesel engine, experimental studies were conducted when it was operated on methanol and methyl ether of rapeseed oil. According to the results of laboratory and bench studies of load working processes of a diesel engine running on methanol and methyl ether of rapeseed oil, important information about hourly and specific fuel consumption, filling coefficients and excess air, effective efficiency and exhaust gas temperature were obtained. At the same time dependences of influence of modes of operation of the diesel engine on characteristics of power and economic indicators are established and their numerical values are defined. The presented research performance and economic performance of diesel engine demonstrate the applicability of methanol and methyl ester of rapeseed oil as an alternative bio-fuel is not only to improve the excellent service standard and performance indicators, but also to reduce the toxicity and smoke opacity of the exhaust gases, since alcohol, with its more simple structure and small size of molecules is one of the determining factors for a more “clean burning” fuel.

The Performance of BRT Trans Semarang Services to Achieve Sustainable Transportation

Semarang provides its many important activities and movements. This city already has BRT system for public transportation, expected to make a sustainable transportation system in Semarang city. However, there are several problems, especially in service performances. The existence of BRT has not been efficient to resolve the congestion problem in the city, indicated by the low BRT load factor level. Location of bus stops are not strategic and not easy to reach, dirty, cramped, have little seatings, do not have guards, do not have feeder mode from the housing area, and the bus arrival schedule is uncertain, causing people to use private vehicles in their daily life. The main purpose of this research is to assess the service performance of BRT Trans Semarang related to safety, comfort, and regularity to achieve sustainable transportation. Conditions of BRT service performance in regard to safety level, 78% of the provision is appropriate, and 22% is not appropriate. Based on comfort level, 70% of the supply is appropriate, and 30% is not suitable. As for the regularity level, 38% of the supply is appropriate, and 62% has not been matched from the total performance indicators of BRT services that require repairs and additions. Government, thus shall improve the regularity level to enhance the load factor of BRT Trans Semarang.

Converging resources and co-producing for innovation: evidence from healthcare services

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine healthcare organizations for the improvements in their existing services (incremental innovation) as well as for the new service developments (radical innovation) initiated through the utilization of resources and co-producing behavior. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an SEM approach to analyze the responses obtained from 257 medical administrators of 50 hospitals registered with National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers. Findings The results reflect a positive and significant impact that is more driven by internal resources and is found to be stronger for incremental innovation in healthcare. The study also posits that resource utilization in conjunction with co-production activities has greater potential to bring innovation that is likely to succeed and stay inimitable. Research limitations/implications The paper outlines scope for future research and suggests inclusion of other service sectors, geographical locations and performance indicators to attain a better understanding of the constructs examined. Practical implications The paper outlines implications for policy makers concerned with healthcare. Providers of health services ought to develop a proactive customer-oriented approach so as to deliver value through service innovations. Integrating customer co-production processes may further augment the overall quality of care. Originality/value Empirical studies integrating the resource-oriented view of innovation along with firms’ co-production and collaborative mechanisms are majorly lacking. The study bridges this gap and suggests ways to bring innovation in health services, a pivotal need for health institutions of an emerging economy like India.

Benchmarking Australian mental health court liaison services – results from the first national study

ABSTRACTMental health court liaison services (CLS) are a key component of the forensic mental health sector in Australia with a service present in each state and territory to identify and treat those with mental illness in contact with the courts. To date, limited research has been undertaken into how these services are delivered and which model is most effective. This paper describes the process and outcomes of the first national collaboration to trial a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for Australian mental health court liaison services (CLS) using a benchmarking model. A set of nationally endorsed KPIs were found to be useful and relevant to policy and practice in terms of enabling services to compare resources and highlight areas for quality improvement. Wide variation in performance across services was observed. The ability of smaller services to provide data emerged as an issue, with several identifying the need to improve reporting capability. Benchmarking of specialised forensic mental health services was found to be a valuable process for services. Future collaborations for CLS may include refinements to the KPIs and will continue to enhance the knowledge base of this specialised area of forensic mental health service provision.

Key performance indicators and administrative data in an early psychosis service.

This study aimed to introduce a set of administrative key performance indicators (KPIs) for Early Psychosis Services. The study design was longitudinal with data retrieved from a 4-year period between January 2009 and December 2013 included in the study. Descriptive statistics and t tests were used to evaluate the KPIs. Results in the 1 year before early psychosis (EP) intervention and 1-year postintervention were calculated for most items, and entry and exit scores were calculated for involuntary treatment orders (ITOs) and Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS) scores. There was a 54% reduction in mental health emergency department presentations representing a cost saving of $62 524.00 (AUD). There was also an improvement in the number and duration of mental health admissions with a financial saving of $1 653 534.00 (AUD). Patients improved on all HoNOS scores from entry to exit from the services. ITOs were reduced by approximately 29% on discharge from the service. Administrative data can provide useful KPIs to measure the effectiveness of EP teams and allow benchmarking with similar services.

Measurement Framework for Assessing Reliable Real-Time Capabilities of Wireless Networks

Network latency and reliability are becoming critical performance indicators for future mission critical services based on wireless connectivity. In this article we present a portable and low-cost measurement framework for quantifying the endto- end (E2E) latency and reliability of communication systems based on single or multiple links. The proposed framework is tailored for characterization of access diversity mechanisms, for example, multi-connectivity or hybrid access methods, which are expected to be essential for ultra-reliable wireless communications in 4G and 5G networks. An active-probe measurement approach is adopted, consisting of a client that transmits timestamped packets to a server, and vice versa, via one or multiple communication links under test. The setup allows us to measure the one-way latency performance in uplink and downlink separately, and allows fully synchronized measurements of multiple links in parallel to understand the benefits of multi-connectivity mechanisms. Traffic generation is flexible in terms of packet size, transport protocol (TCP or UDP), and inter-arrival time interval of the generated packets, hence being a powerful tool for benchmarking the performance for different application-specific message flows. Special emphasis is put on the tail of the latency distribution, that is, the latency that can be achieved with a certain probability constraint, for example, 99.9 percent or beyond. Given the challenge of measuring such rare events, we measure and validate the stability of the measurement equipment to ensure that the observed performance is not compromised by undesired behavior or malfunction of the equipment. The system has a measurement error below 400 μs with 99.9 percent confidence and below 3.1 ms with 99.999 percent confidence. The capability and applicability of the measurement framework is illustrated by a measurement test of two simultaneous LTE connections that provide robust communications to an aerial drone.

Development and validation of key performance indicators for medication management services provided for outpatients.

One of the elements of quality improvement of medication management services is measuring the quality of care and key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used in this assessment. There has been no publishing yet about a KPI instrument developed for ambulatory setting. To develop and validate KPI instrument for medication management services provided for outpatients in Brazilian context. A working group established 7 possible KPIs for assessment of the expert panel. For content validity, 16 experts were invited to participate in an internet based 2-round Delphi approach. Expert panel rated 7 possible KPIs using 7 attributes on a 5-point Likert scale for consensus. In order to construct validity and reliability, an internet questionnaire was developed for pharmacists that work in primary care to understand their views. In addition, a comparison between expert and pharmacist views about the indicators relevance was performed. Eleven (68.8%) experts participated in the Delphi round 1 and nine (81.8%) experts completed the 2 Delphi rounds. A new KPI was develop after expert panel assessment in the first round. Overall, content and construct validity were reached for 6 KPIs: pharmaceutical consultation provided (I1), pharmacist interventions accepted by the prescriber (I2), drug therapy problems resolved (I3), patient clinical status (I4), patient satisfaction (I5), and patient quality of life (I6). A set of 6 KPIs was developed for medication management services provided for outpatients. The instrument presented a good reliability and validity evidence. It is expected that these KPIs will improve the quality of medication management services.