Quality Assurance In Health Care Research Articles

The dangers of managerial perversion: quality assurance in primary health care.

The promotion of primary health care (PHC) at the Alma Ata conference has been followed by a variety of managerial initiatives in support of the development of PHC. One of the more promising vehicles has been the implementation of quality assurance mechanisms. This paper reviews recent examples of this genre and argues that the thrust of both primary health care and quality assurance are in danger of being distorted by a rather antiquated approach to management.

Treatment of mental disorders: a review of effectiveness

Prevention. Prevention of mental, neurological, and psychological disorders: report by the Director-General. Relationship between treatment and prevention policies. Biological Treatments. Critical questions in clinical psychopharmacology. Biological treatments other than drugs (electroconvulsive therapy, brain surgery, insulin therapy, and phototherapy). Psychological Treatments. Evaluation of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Cognitive therapy. Behavior therapy. The benefits of psychotherapy. Psychosocial Treatments. Psychosocial interventions. Procedures used in rehabilitation. Influence of Culture on Treatment. Traditional medicine relevant to psychiatry. Cultural aspects of treatment: conceptual, methodological, and clinical issues and directions. Quality of Care and Care of Quality. Rational treatment in psychiatry: perspectives on psychiatric treatment by level of care. Quality assurance in mental health care. Conclusions: cure, relieve, and comfort.

Quality in Health Care

Quality Management in Health Care , Glenn Laffel, editor, quarterly, $129, Rockville, Md, Aspen Publishers Inc, fall 1992-. Virtually every discipline and field of study has been touched in some way by the concept and study of total quality management, continuous quality improvement, and other similar programs, which derive a canon from operations research, management theory, and behavioral science. Medicine is no exception, but, until the late 1980s, the literature in this area was relatively small. The Quality Review Center of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals inaugurated the first periodical devoted to the topic when QRB: Quality Review Bulletin began publication in 1974. This venerable title was alone until 1986, when the American College of Medical Quality launched Quality Assurance and Utilization Review , now titled American Journal of Medical Quality. Quality Assurance in Health Care , the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance, began publication in 1989.

Current models of “quality” — an introduction for anaesthetists

The purpose of this review is to provide the practicing anaesthetist with an historical perspective of quality, a summary of current models, and an introduction to the expectations of accreditors. Articles were obtained from an electronic literature search on Silver Platter using the search terms Quality, Quality assurance, Anes, and Anaes. In addition, textbooks on quality assurance in health care, quality improvement texts from business management, and accreditation documents were reviewed. Quality systems in health care are derived from business or industrial models. Study of this field is hampered by poorly defined terminology and jargon. Over the years, many different models have been used in health care, but recent studies have investigated the effectiveness of methods such as Quality Improvement. Many of the systems used by hospitals appear to have been prompted by requirements of accreditation standards. Recently, systems of hospital organization have appeared which link Quality Assurance, Quality Improvement, risk management and utilization management. Despite the confusion created by ill-defined terminology and rapid change in some definitions, anaesthetists need to be aware of the basic models of accreditation requirements.

The Textbook of Total Quality in Healthcare

PART I: HISTORY and OVERVIEW 1. Introduction and Historical Background The Early Days of Quality Assurance History of TQ in Manufacturing The Influence of Government on Quality in Healthcare Quality Assurance Departments Transitions 2. The United States Healthcare System and Quality of Care The First Two Hundred Fifty Years (1600-1850) The Next Hundred Years (1850-1950) 1950 to the 1990s PART II: PRINCIPLES, TOOLS, and TECHNIQUES of TOTAL QUALITY 3. Principles of Total Quality in Healthcare Organizations Selected Articles: Sounding Board: Continuous Improvement as an Ideal in Health Care The Case for Using Industrial Quality Management Science in Health Care Organizations Total Quality Management for Physicians: Translating the New Paradigm Organizationwide Quality Improvement in Health Care Articles Misconstrue Joint Commission's Position on Quality Improvement A New Look for Quality in Home Care 4. The Implementation of Total Quality Executive Level Commitment Transformation of the Culture Planning Quality Organizing Quality Evaluating Quality Selected Article: How to Start a Direct Patient Care Team 5. Data Management for Total Quality Transformation of Data to Information Data versus Information Data Reliability Data Validity Sensitivity and Specificity Data Collection, Display, and Analysis Tools for Identifying, Collecting, and Displaying Data Tools for Improving and Monitoring Quality PART III: TOTAL QUALITY ENVIRONMENT 6. Cost and Healthcare Quality Selected Article: Accounting for the Cost of Quality 7. The Law, Ethics, and Total Quality The Role of Laws and the Legal System The Role of Ethics The Interplay between Laws and Ethics Legislative Impetus Judicial Involvement in Determining Quality Ethics and the Elevation of Quality 8. Total Quality and Management Philosophies Organizational Cultures The Use of Power in Organizations TQ and Corporate Culture: Finding a Fit Transforming Organizations to a TQ Philosophy and Culture Managing the Process through Change PART IV: STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS 9. Integration of Total Quality and Quality Assurance Quality Assurance Activities in Healthcare Total Quality Transition to Total Quality: Manufacturing and Health Service Sectors Comparison of QA and TQ Integration of QA and TQ 10. Outcome Management and TQ Background of Quality Outcome What is Outcome and What is Outcome Management? Measurement of Outcomes Questions about Outcome Measurements Research on Outcome and Its Management Outcomes Management and Total Quality 11. Research and Total Quality Quality Management Terminology Background and Definitions Research-Based Practice Social Science Research Guidelines and Databases Research on TQ Instrumentation Research Epidemiological Studies Cost Studies Demonstration Projects Research Utilization Research Agenda PART V: CASE STUDY 12. Total Quality within the VA Healthcare System: A Case Study Annotated Bibliography Index

Health Care Quality in Europe

The tenth conference of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care was held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, in June. Its theme was ‘The Quality of Health Services in a United Europe: Lessons for Others’. There was also a satellite symposium on ‘Quality Assurance in Physiotherapy’. The conference explored the quality assurance programmes in the health care systems of the countries of the European Community. These programmes were looked at from a variety of angles; health care professionals, providers, academics and policy-makers. The final day of the conference included parallel sessions on paramedical quality assurance with the following presentations.

Book Reviews

Journal of Nursing ManagementVolume 1, Issue 4 p. 207-211 Book Reviews First published: July 1993 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.1993.tb00213.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: Psychiatric Nursing Fourth Edition by Holly Skodol and Carol R. Kneisl Continuity and Crisis in the NHS edited by Ray Loveridge and Ken Starkey Community Care for Health Professionals edited by Ann Compton and Mary Ashwin Health Care Research by Degrees by Norma Reid Continuous Improvement and Measurement for Total Ouallty–A Team-based Approach by Dennis C. Kinlaw Counselling Parents of Children with Chronic Illness or Disability by Hilton Davis Introducing Research In Nursing by Holly Skodol-Wilson Quality Assurance In Health Care by Roger Ellis and Dorothy Whittington Books received, some of which may be reviewed at a later date Volume1, Issue4July 1993Pages 207-211 RelatedInformation

News from the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care (ISQA); Notes from your Peripatetic Correspondent

Journal Article News from the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care (ISQA); Notes from your Peripatetic Correspondent Get access International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Volume 5, Issue 1, 1 March 1993, Pages 87–89, https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.87 Published: 01 March 1993

The EC's need for a common currency in health care quality assurance.

Argues that the economic integration of the EC's 12 member nations into a single community and the elimination of barriers to free trade will not result in a single health-care system. However, the closer relationships among the member nations and the members' individual desires for competitive advantage in the new marketplace will, inevitably, lead to an interest in comparing health-care systems along cost and quality dimensions. Without a common currency for quality assurance, such comparisons will be time consuming, costly and of questionable validity. Consensus must be achieved on the following: the essential elements in a database for health care quality assurance; common classification systems for key elements in the QA database; standardized conventions for coding practices to ensure data validity and reliability. Suggests an assessment of current practices in health data collection in the member nations; a pilot project to assess the feasibility of developing a common currency for quality assurance, and an EC-wide symposium to discuss data comparability issues as next steps.

The Lichfield Lecture. Quality assurance in health care: consumers' role.

The Lichfield Lecture. Quality assurance in health care: consumers' role.

Computer-aided quality assurance in oral health care: the image of electronic radiographs.

The concept of a decision-support oriented, interactive, multimedia technique-based dental workstation is presented from the viewpoint of improved quality assurance. Special emphasis is given to the modules for handling and interpretation of radiographs.

Association for Quality in Healthcare (formally National Association for Quality Assurance in Healthcare) annual conference, Solihull, May 1992

Objective: Interactive robotic technologies provide a precise approach to study brain function. The objective of the present study was to examine the feasibility of the Kinarm robotic platform in assessing MS patients. Background: A major challenge for demonstrating the efficacy of multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies is a lack of objective measurements to quantify sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. The current gold standard, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), is mainly centered on ambulation and lower limb function and does not capture important changes in the upper limbs or cognition. Design/Methods: Patients with relapsing or progressive MS completed 8 behavioural tasks testing motor, cognitive, and sensory domains (Kinarm Standard TestsTM/KSTs). Performance was corrected for age-, sex-, and handedness based on a large cohort of healthy controls. We quantified performance on tasks using Task Scores, which quantify overall task performance. MS patients also completed a series of standard clinical assessments of motor function, cognition, and fatigue. Results: We recruited 34 MS patients and 92 healthy controls. Most people in the MS cohort were able to complete the robotic assessments; the primary reason that some individuals couldn’t was fatigue. Twenty-one out of 34 patients were impaired on at least one cognitive task, 20/34 were impaired on at least one motor task, and 6/34 were impaired in at least one measure in the sensory domain. Tasks testing primarily motor skill correlated the most strongly with the EDSS when grouped together (R=0.65, p Conclusions: Our study highlights that it is feasible to use the Kinarm to quantify sensory, motor and cognitive impairments in people with MS. The Kinarm provides objective, granular measures of multiple behavioural domains, and could be used in future clinical research and MS drug trials. Disclosure: Dr. Simmatis has nothing to disclose. Dr. Scott has received royalty, license fees, or contractual rights payments from Kinarm. Dr. Scott holds stock and/or stock options in Kinarm which sponsored research in which Dr. Scott was involved as an investigator. Dr. Scott holds stock and/or stock options in Kinarm. Dr. Scott has received research support from Kinarm. Dr. Baharnoori has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with EMD Serono, Novartis, Alexion and Roche pharmaceutical.

Satisfaction of health care providers and quality assurance in Spanish hospitals

Abstract One of the components of the quality of care is the ‘goodness’ of interpersonal relationships. This ‘goodness’ is a determinant of patient satisfaction, and it is in turn determined by the health care providers' satisfaction. It is therefore important to study both types of satisfaction and their interrelation. This paper focuses on health care providers and reports preliminary results on their job satisfaction. Pilot research on health-care providers was conducted on a representative sample of professionals from six general hospitals of Alicante province (Spain). Age and job appeared as the best predictors of job satisfaction; a permanent job was the best predictor of work overload and to be male was the best predictor of job-related tension. Females reported more job satisfaction and less job-related burnout than males; casual workers reported more satisfaction and less tension, less burnout level, less perceived responsibility and less work overload than permanent workers. Finally, physicians ...

Technical note: preventive maintenance quality assurance.

Performance improvements in healthcare and, specifically, in clinical engineering are required by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' Plant Technology and Safety Management (PTSM) documents. The goals of healthcare service quality assurance are to establish performance requirements and improve patient outcomes. It is important that these goals be kept in the forefront of the design of clinical engineering quality assurance planning. Indicator/threshold pairs must be carefully chosen on the basis of some logical relation to the desired goals of the overall program.

Quality Assurance in Health Care: The Theoretical Context

Explores the theoretical context of quality and quality assurance in health care through a detailed review of the current literature. Outlines the definitions of quality and quality assurance. Identifies the two structural elements of quality assurance: quality assessment and quality improvement and control. Explores in some detail the elements of health care which are capable of assessment and the relationships between them. Finally, considers the mechanisms which can be used to improve health care if deficiencies are highlighted.

QA automation: what must be considered.

As healthcare quality assurance programs grow, so too does the need to gather and provide vast amounts of information. To meet this challenge, QA programs have turned to the use of computer systems. As this article makes clear, QA automation involves more than simply the purchase of computer hardware and software. Much time, planning, research, preparation, testing, and education are required to create an effectively automated QA program. The author provides a realistic review of the major stages and elements of the QA automation process, beginning with the search for appropriate software and concluding with the diversification possibilities of a fully integrated program.

Developing countries need more quality assurance: how health facility surveys can contribute

Quality assurance is a discipline which has developed rapidly over the last decade. This development has, however, been almost entirely concentrated in the United States and Europe. Very few works on quality assurance of health care in developing countries have been published. This article briefly reviews the current literature on this subject, and related work in some international organizations. The Programme for Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases in the World Health Organization (CDD/WHO) has recently produced a manual for a health facility survey, in which the structure and process of caring for children with diarrhoea is assessed. This paper introduces the methodology and summarizes findings from some applications. The health facility survey is directly linked to the needs of national CDD programmes, and provides a useful example of how an instrument for quality assurance in developing countries can be used for identification of problems and their possible solutions. The article concludes that there is a need to develop similar tools for quality assurance of primary health care in developing countries.

Absenteeism as a symptom of occupational ill-health in hospitals and its repercussion on quality assurance.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the importance of absenteeism due to illness in the hospital organization. A measurement of absenteeism due to illness among hospital professionals of the National Health System in the Alicante province (Spain) during the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 was carried out, as well as its repercussion on quality assurance in health care. The absenteeism index (frequency) was 5.39, 6.38 and 6.79 in 1988, 1989 and 1990, respectively. The extent of absenteeism (duration) in 1988 was 19.7 days per worker, and was 24.23 in 1989 and 26.45 in 1990. Hospitals with more than 400 beds presented during these periods poor absenteeism self-control. Maintenance personnel, nurses, administrative personnel and graduates had, in this order, the highest scores of days lost. We show that the dimension of Intrinsic Job Satisfaction, Extrinsic Job Satisfaction and Job Monotony are interrelated with absenteeism.

A pilot project on quality assurance in nursing care in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Federal Republic of Germany.

As a direct result of the law passed in Germany requiring the practice of quality assurance in health care which has been in effect since 1 January 1989, the Institute for Health Systems Research in Kiel piloted a project on quality assurance in medicine in 12 hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein from September 1989 to February 1991. Two procedures for measuring the quality of nursing care were also developed in two of these hospitals. These procedures were oral care aided by nursing staff and oral care carried out by nursing staff. The pilot project was then evaluated by the Institute. An extension of the medical side of the project to cover all 80 hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein was planned to begin on 1 January 1992. As far as the nursing side is concerned, approximately 10 procedures will be developed and tested in eight hospitals.

Quality Assurance in Rural Hospitals

Within the last decade there has been an expanding amount of information on quality assurance in healthcare. Despite the prolific citations on the topic, only a few address the needs and concerns regarding quality assurance programs in rural healthcare institutions. The author summarizes the more frequently expressed concerns of nursing administrators in implementing a comprehensive quality assurance program in the rural environment.