International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2004
Nationwide continuous quality improvement using clinical indicators: the Danish National Indicator Project.
In most countries there is no mandatory national system to track the quality of care delivered to the citizens. This paper describes an example of a national indicator project that aims at documenting and improving the quality of care nationwide. ⋯ The surveillance of health care quality is greatly aided by the use of relevant quantitative indicators. This paper describes how it is possible to organize nationwide monitoring using clinical indicators.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2004
Comparative StudyThe characteristics of very short stay ICU admissions and implications for optimizing ICU resource utilization: the Saudi experience.
Patients with very short stays (<24 hours) in intensive care units (ICUs) constitute a distinct group with a high turnover rate and a unique patient mix. Our aim was to study their characteristics with the aim of developing strategic approaches for better and more appropriate utilization of ICU resources. ⋯ Our study has provided crucial input for the study of strategic change towards more optimal utilization of scarce ICU resources. Implementing protocols to target ICU care to patients most likely to benefit, making DNR decisions early in the hospital stay, and operating an Intermediate Care Unit have been proposed as strategic approaches.