Rehabilitation and Disability Services' Quality Projects: A Comparison against the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards' Clinical Criteria.

Abstract

The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Evaluation, Quality and Improvement (EQuIP 4)1 standards provide a useful clinical and corporate framework for the analysis of quality projects by both health and disability services. Two ACHS EQuIP 4 clinical standards were used to compare quality projects conducted by community-based and on-site rehabilitation and disability services, as generated by a commercial database. Reliable information is a major asset for healthcare organisations, and the use of the ACHS clinical standards to interpret quality project data can overcome a lack of conceptual framework to interpret data. Key differences in the types of quality projects entered in the database by the rehabilitation and disability services may be attributed to the rehabilitation services' relationship with the client (patient), which is time-limited according to the clients' rehabilitation progress, while in comparison, disability services provide life-long support.