health care quality assurance

..work in analytic methods of health services research with applied research experience in six areas: 1) health care quality assessment and improvement, 2) outcomes of medical care in diverse populations, 3) cost-effectiveness analysis ..

..The health care system of the future must be transparent, making safety information to insurers, patients and health care providers easily available...

..In perinatal care, lessons from industry and business include application of human factors research, teambuilding, standardization, and use of electronic medical records...

..He concludes that a "tipping point" occurs when a series of small events results in a critical mass of acceptance that produces sudden major changes...

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..Consequently, the patient in the ICU has a higher exposure to medical error than patients in other areas of the hospital...

..Health care has turned into a chaotic delivery system that bewilders patients and challenges health professionals. We can do better...

..These two programs herald a new phase of quality monitoring based on comparisons with other providers of breast care. In this new paradigm, simply being licensed to provide care will not be satisfactory proof of quality of care...

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..Because minority members are less likely to get appropriate care, efforts should be made to engage minority members in effective care for depression...

..Further research is needed to assess microsystem performance, outcomes, and safety, and how to replicate "best practices" in other settings...

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..Our PSI rates were consistent with the national incidence of low rates; however, differences between VA and non-VA rates suggest that inadequate case-mix adjustment may be contributing to these findings...

..This article describes Parkland's approach to each component and takes a look at selected processes and outcomes...

..This study contributes to the literature measuring outcomes of medical errors and provides evidence that AHRQ PSIs may be useful indicators for comparison across delivery systems...

..Building on these experiences, a model for a quality and accountability framework is proposed in which evidence-based practices and performance measurement systems can together provide productive and ongoing synergy...

..Rural hospitals cannot exempt themselves from expanding mandates to report on quality, but they can create and report on best practices from which larger systems can learn...

..This undesirable potential outcome compounds the importance of selecting these standards with the utmost care...

..Field-based research is essential in the emerging field of patient safety to create the evidence as to which technologies actually improve patient safety and those that may well increase the potential for harm...

..Vague recommendations offer various possibilities of interpretation. Effectiveness of the expert standards has not yet been proven. Future nursing guidelines should take into account international quality criteria...

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..Additional studies of pay for performance are needed to determine its optimal role in quality-improvement initiatives...

..Goal-oriented strategy, especially in diabetic subjects, should be aggressively sought rather than relaxing goals to promote achievement...

..The sophistication of consumers and the emergence of organizations like the Leap Frog Group will continue to challenge health care providers and potentially accelerate safety improvements...

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..Maintaining professional standards of assisted living nursing practice courses throughout the suggested recommendations...

..Nurse executives need to be familiar with the requirements of this program in order to be able to participate in ensuring the compliance of the facilities with which they work...

..The use of this model provided nurse leaders an opportunity to improve patient care as well as meet the CMS requirements for QAPI...

..quot;Once we get an innovation, let's study it right away so we can be sure every person who could benefit gets it, or if it doesn't work, let's do no harm," says WellPoint's Samuel Nussbaum, left...

..Three recommendations for urban hospitals focus on computerized physician order entry, evidence-based hospital referral, and the use of intensivists...

..Initial results of pilot programs indicate incentives do spur improvements. However, the pilots also point up weaknesses that must be resolved if pay for performance is to become the national standard...

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..CONCLUSIONS: Challenges must be addressed so that an informatics infrastructure and related applications that promote patient safety and enable EBP can be realized...

..NEXT STEPS: In 2004 Leapfrog will launch new Regional Roll-Outs, bringing Leapfrog consumer education, hospital-specific information, and purchasing strategies to more communities nationwide...

..Hospitals leapt at the challenge to save 100,000 lives through evidence-based medicine. Now that the goal is dramatically higher, how are hospitals responding?..

..The intervention began January 1, 2001 and will be completed on June 30, 2003...

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..These are not easy tasks and will require investments in new equipment and new skills. These steps are essential if we are to maintain public confidence in healthcare...

..A combination of these solutions will change the focus of the healthcare industry toward safety and will eventually lead to billions in savings, but more importantly, the saving of lives...

..Given that nurses comprise the largest component of the health care workforce, safety and error reduction in health care are central concerns for the profession...

..This is the first part of a two-part treatise. It discusses existing problems in ICU care, and the methods for defining and measuring ICU performance...

..Examples of curriculum content are provided from HSA programs at Georgetown University, University of Washington, and University of California at Berkeley...

..This strategy is based on the adage that "assessment drives curriculum" and proposes a series of new assessment tools to be added to all phases of the training-practice continuum...

..The application of ISD using the ADDIE approach can eliminate or prevent education and training from being a contributing factor of health associated injury or harm, and can also be effective in preventing injury or harm...

..The National Patient Safety Foundation, through its Stand Up for Patient Safety Program, is committed to assisting organizations improve clinical communication...

..SP based assessment is an important patient safety tool that could be applied to a variety of patient safety settings and situations, and should be considered an important weapon in the war on medical error and patient harm...

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..As knowledge and technology improve, the results of quality undertakings are certain to foster health care's development into an endeavor in which errors are becoming increasingly rare events...

..Deidentified clinical data from the medical records of a planned 43,000 patients from 160 US cardiology practices will be included in this study...

..Success will require a multifaceted strategy, including public education, government investment and regulation, payment system restructuring, and leadership from within the delivery system...

..CONCLUSIONS: The TRIP projects encompass a broad range of providers, environments, patients, and interventions. The field of applied research and quality improvements should be considerably enhanced by these research projects...

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