International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care
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Globally, there has been considerable interest from the public, medical profession, and governments in ensuring that doctors are fit for practice. Appropriate accountability for the profession has become an important contemporary issue. With doubts emerging on the effectiveness of professionally led regulation, a variety of different mechanisms have been devised to ensure that patients receive appropriate and good quality care. This paper reviews regulation of the medical profession and indicates the way in which doctors in the UK are held accountable for their practice.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Oct 2003
Comparative StudyReadmissions and the quality of care in patients hospitalized with heart failure.
Clinical practice guidelines based on the results of randomized clinical trials recommend that patients with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) be treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) at doses shown to reduce mortality and readmission. This study examined the relationship between ACEI use at discharge and readmission among patients with heart failure due to LVSD. ⋯ Our results show that ACEI use at discharge in patients with LVSD is associated with decreased rate of readmission. These findings suggest that compliance with the ACEI prescribing recommendations listed in clinical practice guidelines for patients with heart failure due to LVSD confers benefit.