This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.
"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/
An exploration of the theoretical and philosophical background of performance development, this edited collection focuses sharply on the practical aspects associated with it within the healthcare sector.
Information technology is revolutionizing healthcare, and the uptake of health information technologies is rising, but scientific research and industrial and governmental support will be needed if these technologies are to be implemented effectively to build capacity at regional, national and global levels. This book, "Improving Usability, Safety and Patient Outcomes with Health Information Technology", presents papers from the Information Technology and Communications in Health conference, ITCH 2019, held in Victoria, Canada from 14 to 17 February 2019. The conference takes a multi-perspective view of what is needed to move technology forward to sustained and widespread use by transitioning research findings and approaches into practice. Topics range from improvements in usability and training and the need for new and improved designs for information systems, user interfaces and interoperable solutions, to governmental policy, mandates, initiatives and the need for regulation. The knowledge and insights gained from the ITCH 2019 conference will surely stimulate fruitful discussions and collaboration to bridge research and practice and improve usability, safety and patient outcomes, and the book will be of interest to all those associated with the development, implementation and delivery of health IT solutions.
Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.
This User’s Guide is intended to support the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and quality evaluation of registries created to increase understanding of patient outcomes. For the purposes of this guide, a patient registry is an organized system that uses observational study methods to collect uniform data (clinical and other) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease, condition, or exposure, and that serves one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes. A registry database is a file (or files) derived from the registry. Although registries can serve many purposes, this guide focuses on registries created for one or more of the following purposes: to describe the natural history of disease, to determine clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of health care products and services, to measure or monitor safety and harm, and/or to measure quality of care. Registries are classified according to how their populations are defined. For example, product registries include patients who have been exposed to biopharmaceutical products or medical devices. Health services registries consist of patients who have had a common procedure, clinical encounter, or hospitalization. Disease or condition registries are defined by patients having the same diagnosis, such as cystic fibrosis or heart failure. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews.
Motivated by business pressures, market consolidation, and the pursuit of quality care, health care professionals in all areas of practice are beginning to explore more fully the tremendous potential of disease management-- a systemwide strategy for proactively managing chronic diseases across the entire continuum of care. Disease Management is the first book to bring together systems thinking and organizational structure in a framework for designing, developing, and implementing a comprehensive health management system.
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are measures of how patients feel or what they are able to do in the context of their health status; PROs are reports, usually on questionnaires, about a patient's health conditions, health behaviors, or experiences with health care that individuals report directly, without modification of responses by clinicians or others; thus, they directly reflect the voice of the patient. PROs cover domains such as physical health, mental and emotional health, functioning, symptoms and symptom burden, and health behaviors. They are relevant for many activities: helping patients and their clinicians make informed decisions about health care, monitoring the progress of care, setting policies for coverage and reimbursement of health services, improving the quality of health care services, and tracking or reporting on the performance of health care delivery organizations. We address the major methodological issues related to choosing, administering, and using PROs for these purposes, particularly in clinical practice settings. We include a framework for best practices in selecting PROs, focusing on choosing appropriate methods and modes for administering PRO measures to accommodate patients with diverse linguistic, cultural, educational, and functional skills, understanding measures developed through both classic and modern test theory, and addressing complex issues relating to scoring and analyzing PRO data.
As a primary care provider, you are on the front lines of medical treatment. Oftentimes, you're the first medical professional patients come to when they experience problems with their health. While some of these problems can be resolved by traditional medical treatment, many others are driven by underlying psychological issues and unhealthy lifestyle choices that you may feel powerless to affect. Between repeat patient visits and the frustrating progression of preventable symptoms and conditions, it's no wonder so many medical and behavioral health providers feel burned out and at a loss for effective solutions. This guide was designed to help you find those solutions and recapture the ability to effectively help patients achieve optimal health and happiness. Real Behavior Change in Primary Care offers ten-minute interventions that provide your patients with the tools they need to change unworkable and unhealthy behaviors. Each short yet powerful intervention utilizes empirically supported skills from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, to help you empower patients to take charge of the psychological blocks that keep them from resolving their health problems. You'll also apply ACT skills to your own life and learn to better manage stress, recover from burnout, and rediscover the meaning behind your work as a health care provider. Help patients suffering with: Chronic disease Alcohol and substance abuse Chronic pain Anxiety and depression Trauma and abuse
This is an open access book. The book provides an overview of the state of research in developing countries – Africa, Latin America, and Asia (especially India) and why research and publications are important in these regions. It addresses budding but struggling academics in low and middle-income countries. It is written mainly by senior colleagues who have experienced and recognized the challenges with design, documentation, and publication of health research in the developing world. The book includes short chapters providing insight into planning research at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, issues related to research ethics, and conduct of clinical trials. It also serves as a guide towards establishing a research question and research methodology. It covers important concepts such as writing a paper, the submission process, dealing with rejection and revisions, and covers additional topics such as planning lectures and presentations. The book will be useful for graduates, postgraduates, teachers as well as physicians and practitioners all over the developing world who are interested in academic medicine and wish to do medical research.
