Introduction

Key Definitions

Quality

The appropriateness of a specific set of professional activities as performed in relation to the objectives they are intended to serve. Quality, a source of competitive advantage, remains a hallmark of institutional products and services. High quality is not an added value — it is an essential basic requirement. High levels of quality are essential to achieve institutional goals and objectives.

Standards

The minimum acceptable levels of performance used to judge the quality of professional preparation of practice.

Quality Control

The surveillance mechanism or procedure for providing evidence of quality. Quality control is focused on fulfilling quality requirements — a procedure or set of procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured product or performed service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria and meets the requirements of all stakeholders.

Quality Assurance

A set of procedures intended to ensure that a service and its products meet standards specified by regional, national and international governing bodies, to meet the requirements and demands of community health services. This is a process of long-range accountability for professional activities, focused on providing confidence to consumers that quality requirements are fulfilled.

Quality Enhancement

A continuous, systematic and structured process involving standardisation, monitoring, evaluation and steps taken for further improvement, so that the final product meets the specifications of quality relevant to current demands of healthcare delivery. The curriculum, teaching and learning methodology, assessment methods and quality of healthcare delivery are periodically reviewed and revised on a continuous basis to satisfy all stakeholders — students, researchers, administration, patients and governing bodies.

Quality Management

Those aspects of the overall management function that determine and implement institutional quality policy and objectives. Both quality control and quality assurance are parts of quality management. Top management provides the training and an appropriate motivating environment to foster teamwork, both within and across organisational units, for employees to improve processes.

Vision & Mission

Vision of QEC

A state-of-the-art department to facilitate, monitor, assure and enhance the quality of medical education, research and health professional services, to achieve excellence in healthcare delivery.

Mission of QEC

Develop a culture of quality control and assurance in achieving excellence in medical education, research and healthcare services.

Objectives

  1. Perform student and faculty surveys to assess the present status of delivery of education
  2. Identify lapses in basic and clinical sciences curricula
  3. Appraise the faculty about areas for improvement
  4. Develop Standard Operating Procedures for implementation of curricula
  5. Hold symposia on appraisal of faculty on the process of quality management
  6. Organise workshops for faculty build-up in development and implementation of curricula
  7. Analyse the current status of research and publications by the faculty
  8. Arrange workshops on research methodology
  9. Hold symposia on plagiarism

Goals

  1. Facilitate achievement of high quality medical education to meet national and international standards
  2. Ensure high quality research to accomplish standards of medical education
  3. Ensure high standard research to safeguard quality of healthcare services and delivery
  4. Inculcate a culture of self-assessment and improvement to achieve excellence in medical education and healthcare delivery
  5. Ensure satisfaction of all stakeholders by quality management