Page 31 - NIH Bulletin Vol. 21: January - June 2023 NIH Way Forward

Vol : 21 • January - Jun 2023 •

PAVING THE WAY TO ORGANISATIONAL
PAVING THE WAY TO ORGANISATIONAL
EXCELLENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MOH)
EXCELLENCE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MOH)
• • • • • •
Dr. Natasya Nur Mohd Nasir, Dr. Nur Jihan Noris, Dr. Ili Liyana Khairul Anuar and
Dr. Intan Syafinaz Saman@Saimy

The Centre of Organisational Excellence Development (COED) was established in 2019 with the aim
to improve on the efficiency of MOH healthcare service delivery by mainly tackling overcrowding issues
at the public healthcare facilities. This is achieved by conducting relevant research projects as well as
through the application of tools and methods that expand the medical resources, services and expertise
while optimising the resources currently available such as by using Action Research and Lean Healthcare.
TION RESEARCH
A
C
ACTION RESEARCH
Action Research (AR) is actively being used for the Cluster Hospital Initiative (CHI) from the year of 2012
till now. This initiative was started in accordance with the eight Health Service Goals under Malaysia’s
Health Vision which included care close to home, seamless continuous care, and effective and efficient
affordable service. In this initiative, hospitals are grouped together based on geographical locations and
resources are shared to ensure an integrated healthcare service delivery between all hospitals within a
cluster. During the planning phase of this initiative, the technical committee decided to enforce the AR
approach as the method of implementation of this initiative with the Institute of Health Management
(IHM) as the training center. Currently, we have almost 42 clusters throughout Malaysia with the objectives
to improve efficiency, equity and accessibility of specialist care and reduce the load at the specialist
hospitals to non-specialist hospitals.
Apart from our involvement as AR trainers, our team has also conducted three scientific evaluations
on topics related to CHI in recent years. The first research conducted was “Cost- Effectiveness Analysis of
Cluster Hospital Pilot Projects in Transforming the Healthcare Service in Malaysia” (NMRR-15-1069-26589),
done between August 2015 and September 2016. The second research “Patients’ Experience on Cluster
Hospital Implementation” (NMRR-17-297-34718), conducted in 2017 was to evaluate the patients’ and
caregivers’ perspectives on CHI. The third research, “Exploring the Barriers and Boosters towards Cluster
Hospital Sustainability among Healthcare Providers” (NMRR-18-8-39583) was to evaluate the healthcare
providers’ perspective towards CHI, and what were the perceived barriers and boosters to CHI.
ONGOING RESEARCH
ONGOING RESEARCH
Understanding the Role of Diabetes Educators and Measuring Their Time Spent for Diabetes Care in
Ministry of Health Primary Health Clinics, Negeri Sembilan (NMRR-21-1045-59255)
Principle Investigator: Dr. Nur Jihan Noris

From December 2021 to the end of December 2022,
the Centre for Organisational Excellence (COED)
and the Centre for Leadership Development
(CLPD) at IHM conducted research on the role of
Diabetes Educators (DE) in primary health clinics
and how much time they were able to spend on
diabetes care. The significant spike in the incidence
of diabetes mellitus and its complications in
Malaysia poses a major health and financial strain
on our healthcare system. The increased number
of diabetes cases necessitated a more holistic
approach to managing diabetic cases, and the
function of DE, who acted as a bridge between
doctors and patients, needed to be strengthened
as part of a more holistic treatment for diabetes
patients. This study aims to explore the role of DEs
as well as measure the actual time DE spend on
diabetes care and what are the factors affecting
their time in the clinic.
From the output in Phase 1, several posters were
presented at MOHAMM Scientific Conference
2022.

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