Quality management in Malaysian public health care

PURPOSE: The main aim of the study is to provide an empirical analysis of quality management practice among Malaysian Ministry of Health hospital employees, ranging from medical specialists to health attendants. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Self-administered questionnaires collected data and cluster sampling used to select hospitals, while stratified random sampling selected employee respondents. The research was limited to peninsular Malaysian public health care. FINDINGS: A total of 23 public hospitals participated in the survey, including the National Referral Centre, which is based in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Eight quality management practices were identified in Malaysian public hospitals: continuous improvement, strategic planning, quality assurance, teamwork, leadership and management commitment, employee involvement and training, management by fact, and supplier partnership. Support for quality management was found to be lowest among the physicians. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The article fills a lacuna in the health care quality management empirical research literature. The main recommendation is for the Malaysian Ministry of Health to gamer physicians' support in its quality endeavours.