Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-12-29

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 0309377722

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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.


Principles of Transfusion Medicine

Principles of Transfusion Medicine

Author: Ennio Claudio Rossi

Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 982

ISBN-13: 9780683073867

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This is a practical guide for safe and effective use of blood as a drug. It has a practical focus, with a format that blends transfusion science with clinical concerns, and includes contributions from the areas of pathology, internal medicine, surgery, anaesthesiology and paediatrics. This new edition includes 15 new chapters, and the Organization of Blood Services section has been restructured to guide the reader through the intensified regulatory environment and the use of computers a control devices. The text also discusses how blood banks can meet the FDA's tight new guidelines, using audit and error management as the key to process control.


Molecular Genetic Pathology

Molecular Genetic Pathology

Author: Liang Cheng

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 1136

ISBN-13: 9781461447993

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Molecular Genetic Pathology, Second Edition presents up-to-date material containing fundamental information relevant to the clinical practice of molecular genetic pathology. Fully updated in each area and expanded to include identification of new infectious agents (H1N1), new diagnostic biomarkers and biomarkers for targeted cancer therapy. This edition is also expanded to include the many new technologies that have become available in the past few years such as microarray (AmpliChip) and high throughput deep sequencing, which will certainly change the clinical practice of molecular genetic pathology. Part I examines the clinical aspects of molecular biology and technology, genomics. Poharmacogenomics and proteomics, while Part II covers the clinically relevant information of medical genetics, hematology, transfusion medicine, oncology, and forensic pathology. Supplemented with many useful figures and presented in a helpful bullet-point format, Molecular Genetic Pathology, Second Edition provides a unique reference for practicing pathologists, oncologists, internists, and medical genetisists. Furthermore, a book with concise overview of the field and highlights of clinical applications will certainly help those trainees, including pathology residents, genetics residents, molecular pathology fellows, internists, hematology/oncology fellows, and medical technologists in preparing for their board examination/certification.


Pay for Performance in Health Care

Pay for Performance in Health Care

Author: Jerry Cromwell

Publisher: RTI Press

Published: 2011-02-28

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1934831042

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This book provides a balanced assessment of pay for performance (P4P), addressing both its promise and its shortcomings. P4P programs have become widespread in health care in just the past decade and have generated a great deal of enthusiasm in health policy circles and among legislators, despite limited evidence of their effectiveness. On a positive note, this movement has developed and tested many new types of health care payment systems and has stimulated much new thinking about how to improve quality of care and reduce the costs of health care. The current interest in P4P echoes earlier enthusiasms in health policy—such as those for capitation and managed care in the 1990s—that failed to live up to their early promise. The fate of P4P is not yet certain, but we can learn a number of lessons from experiences with P4P to date, and ways to improve the designs of P4P programs are becoming apparent. We anticipate that a “second generation” of P4P programs can now be developed that can have greater impact and be better integrated with other interventions to improve the quality of care and reduce costs.