Quality Improvement Measures

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Quality Improvement in Health Care & Potential Indicators

According to the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) (2009) report: To Err is Human; every year, approximately 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die from medical errors. Additionally, medication errors alone are estimated to cause more than 7000 deaths annually; compared with 6000 annual deaths from workplace injuries (IOM, 1999). These are staggering numbers. Since the issue of the IOM's report (13 years ago); America's health care system has received much attention. Specifically, frameworks and quality improvement and procedures for evaluating quality of care have been widely instituted. As well, performance incentives and initiatives have been debated; implemented; and maintained (IOM, 1999).
Some Recommended Aims for Healthcare Improvement
1. Safe: avoiding injuries to patients from care that-The intent is to help them.
2. Effective: providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit, and not provide services to those unlikely to benefit-constitutes redundancy; underuse; and overuse).
3. Patient-centered: providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide clinical decisions.
4. Timely: Reduce waiting times and potentially harmful delays for both those who caregivers and patients.
5. Efficient: avoiding waste; reuse; recycle (mot needles); waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.
6. Equitable: cultural sensitive and provision of care that does not differ in quality because of ...