Efficiency

Efficiency (medicine)

Efficiency (pronounced as /ɪˈfɪʃ(ə)nsi/) in the context of medicine refers to the ability of a healthcare system or provider to deliver the highest possible health outcomes with the least amount of resources. It is a key component of healthcare management and health economics.

Etymology

The term 'efficiency' originates from the Latin word 'efficientia', meaning 'accomplishment, performance'. In the medical context, it was first used in the late 19th century to describe the optimal use of resources in healthcare.

Related Terms

• Cost-effectiveness: A measure of the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action in healthcare. Cost-effectiveness is often expressed in terms of a ratio where the denominator is a gain in health from a measure and the numerator is the cost associated with the health gain.

• Healthcare Quality: The degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge.

• Resource Allocation: The process of assigning resources to specific tasks or functions in a healthcare setting. This can include financial resources, human resources, and physical resources such as equipment and facilities.

• Healthcare Efficiency: A measure of how well a healthcare system or provider uses resources to achieve desired health outcomes. This can be measured in terms of cost per outcome, or the ratio of inputs to outputs in a healthcare process.

• Healthcare Productivity: The amount of health outcomes produced per unit of input in a healthcare system. This can be measured in terms of patient outcomes per healthcare worker, or health outcomes per unit of healthcare expenditure.

See Also

• Healthcare Management
• Health Economics
• Cost-effectiveness
• Healthcare Quality
• Resource Allocation
• Healthcare Efficiency
• Healthcare Productivity

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Efficiency
• Wikipedia's article - Efficiency

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