Systems-Oriented Health Services Indicators

Abstract

Indicators are sets of numbers, figures and displays conveying information that allow for action. Information clearly is an essential basis for all phases of management and administration (decision, implementation, control) and is equally important at all levels (policy, planning, operational level). System-oriented methods of management, yielding insights into and taking advantage of interactions and dynamic processes, are especially needed in the health care field which is rapidly changing and evolving. At the level of regional health administrations and ministries questions typically reflecting the evolution are: “should the capacity of hospital X, when renovated, be expanded and if yes, by how much?”; “should the ophthalmologic service at hospital Y be organized in the form of an independent eye clinic?”; “at which of the hospitals should NMR be installed first and when?”.