Quality Improvement / Continuous Quality Improvement: From 1 Different Sources
The sum of all the activities which create desired change in quality. In the health care setting, quality improvement requires a feedback loop which involves the identification of patterns of the care of individuals (or of the performance of other systems involved in care), the analysis of those patterns in order to identify opportunities for improvement (or instances of departure from standards of care), and then action to improve the quality of care for future patients. An effective quality improvement system results in step-by-step increases in quality of care.
A method for treating babies who suffer from alveolar collapse in the lung as a result of HYALINE MEMBRANE DISEASE (see also RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME).... continuous positive airways pressure
The product of the interplay between social, health, economic and environmental conditions which affect human and social development. It is a broad-ranging concept, incorporating a person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and relationship to salient features in the environment. As people age, their quality of life is largely determined by their ability to access needed resources and maintain autonomy and independence.... quality of life
The outcome of care/service from an individual/user’s point of view. It is how well the care service supports the client/user to improve his/her quality of life.... client quality
See HEALTHCARE COMMISSION.... commission for health improvement
See TRANSFUSION.... continuous autologous transfusion
See “data”.... continuous data (variable)
Individual outcome measure that extends beyond traditional measures of mortality and morbidity to include such dimensions as physiology, function, social activity, cognition, emotion, sleep and rest, energy and vitality, health perception and general life satisfaction (some of these are also known as health status, functional status or quality-of-life measures).... health-related quality-of-life (hrql) measure
Launched in 1999 in England and Wales as CHI, this is an inspectorate charged with protecting patients from ‘unacceptable failings in the National Health Service’. A statutory body under the 1999 Health Act, it evaluates and re?nes local systems designed to safeguard standards of clinical quality. Working separately from the NHS and the health departments, it o?ers an independent safeguard that provides systems to monitor and improve clinical quality in primary care, community services and hospitals. As of 2004 it became responsible for dealing with patients’ complaints if they could not be settled by the trust concerned. The board members include health professionals, academics and eight lay members. Scotland has set up a similar statutory body. (See APPENDIX 7: STATUTORY ORGANISATIONS.)... healthcare commission (commission for health improvement)
An organization offering advice and practical assistance to older people who need to repair, improve or adapt their homes.... home improvement agency
QAPI establishes strategies for promoting high quality health care. First, each organization must meet certain required levels of performance when providing specific health care and related services. Second, organizations must conduct performance improvement projects that are outcome-oriented and that achieve demonstrable and sustained improvement in care and services. It is expected that an organization will continuously monitor its own performance on a variety of dimensions of care and services, identify its own areas for potential improvement, carry out individual projects to undertake system interventions to improve care, and monitor the effectiveness of those interventions.... quality assessment and performance improvement programme (qapi)
Standardized procedures, methods or philosophy for collecting, processing or analysing data, which is performed on an ongoing basis and aimed at maintaining or improving the appropriateness and reliability of health care services.... quality assurance (qa)
An instrument for quality enhancement and quality assurance which uses groups of peers to assess and discuss the quality of their own work and develop strategies for improvement.... quality circle
The sum of all the activities which prevent unwanted change in quality. In the health care setting, quality control requires a repeated series of feedback loops which monitor and evaluate the care of the individual (and other elements in the health care process). These feedback loops involve checking the care being delivered against standards of care, identification of any problems or opportunities for improvement, and prompt corrective action, so that the quality is maintained.... quality control (qc)
The quality of non-clinical attributes of health care units, such as cleanliness of the facility, adequacy of the furniture and quality of the food.... quality of basic amenities
The degree to which delivered health services meet established professional standards and are judged to be of value to the consumer. Quality may also be seen as the degree to which actions taken or not taken maximize the probability of beneficial health outcomes and minimize risk and other outcomes, given the existing state of medical science and art.... quality of care
Years of life saved by a medical technology or service, adjusted according to the quality of those years (as determined by some evaluative measure). QALYs are the most commonly used unit to express the results in some types of cost-effectiveness analysis.... quality-adjusted life years (qalys)
TQM is synonymous with continuous quality improvement (CQI). It is an integrative management concept of continuously improving the quality of delivered goods and services through the participation of all level and functions of the organization to meet the needs and expectations of the customer.... total quality management (tqm)
See “client quality”.... user quality
(CQC) a publicly funded independent organization established in 2009 and responsible for regulation of health and social care in England; it replaced the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, and the Mental Health Act Commission. The responsibilities of the commission include publication of national health-care standards; annual assessment of the performance of NHS and social-care organizations; reviewing other (i.e. private and voluntary) health- and social-care organizations; reviewing complaints about the services when it has not been possible to resolve them locally; and investigating serious service failures.... care quality commission
the route that a patient takes through the health-care system, from first admission to a hospital or treatment centre to final discharge. This may consist of one or more *spells in particular hospitals and one or more *finished consultant episodes. For example, a patient admitted to a district general hospital, transferred to a tertiary hospital for a specialist procedure, and then transferred back to the district general hospital for recovery would experience one continuous patient pathway but three spells.... continuous patient pathway
the administration of insulin by continuous infusion into the subcutaneous tissue via a small pump worn under the clothing and connected to the skin by a tube and a fine needle. The insulin is delivered at a precalculated background rate, but patient-activated *boluses can be administered at meal times. This method is particularly appropriate (as an alternative to regular injections) for patients with repeated or unpredictable episodes of hypoglycaemia.... continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion
(DLQI) a validated questionnaire designed by Finlay in 1994 to assess the impact of skin diseases on psychological and social wellbeing. It is the most common *quality of life tool used as an endpoint in dermatology clinical trials. DLQI scores of more than 10 (indicating a severe impact on life) are required before biological treatments for psoriasis may be administered in the UK.... dermatology life quality index
(QOF) a system, introduced as part of the new general medical services (nGMS) contract (see general practitioner), whereby practices are rewarded for implementing good medical practice. There are four main domains: clinical, organizational, patient experience, and additional services. Each domain has various criteria based on best practice, which have a number of points allocated for achievement. The points are collated at the end of the financial year and converted into payment for the practice.... quality and outcomes framework
setting, monitoring, and maintaining standards for the quality of a service. See clinical governance.... quality assurance
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