Quality management in health care
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Qual Manag Health Care · Jan 2011
A standardized pain management protocol improves timeliness of analgesia among emergency department patients with renal colic.
Kidney stones are a common, and extremely painful, cause of emergency department (ED) visits. Pain management is a critical component of high-quality patient care. A pilot study at our institution found that only 69% of ED patients with renal colic had evidence of clinically significant analgesia. ⋯ Implementation of a standardized pain management protocol among ED patients with renal colic resulted in a marked improvement in quality of care as evidenced by a 49% reduction in time to effective analgesia.
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Qual Manag Health Care · Jan 2011
A healthcare Lean Six Sigma System for postanesthesia care unit workflow improvement.
The aim of this article is to propose a new model called Healthcare Lean Six Sigma System that integrates Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to improve workflow in a postanesthesia care unit. ⋯ The full benefits of the new model will be realized when applied at both strategic and operational levels. For further research, we will examine how the proposed model is used in different real-world case studies.
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Qual Manag Health Care · Jan 2011
International medical travelers, length of stay, and the continuum of care: inquiry and comparison.
In this study, we assess whether length of stay (LOS) is associated with patient geographic origin and whether payment source for international patients explains differences in LOS. ⋯ The most complex international patients coming to US AMCs have substantially longer LOS than the most complex domestic patients, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, and type of condition. More research is needed to understand the underlying drivers of these differences.