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.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2003
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyCommon types of medication errors on long-term psychiatric care units.
This multi-center study identified the most frequent types of medication errors in long-term psychiatric care hospitals. ⋯ Wrong drug administration was the most common type of PADE, and may result in more serious consequences than others. Even a simple organizational quality improvement effort, in which printed patients' names are placed on the drug pouch (not only with each prescription but with each drug administration), could reduce risk to patients from adverse outcomes due to medication errors.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2003
Validation and application of an instrument for measuring patient relatives' perception of quality of geriatric care.
To test and validate a questionnaire concerning patient relatives' perception of the quality of geriatric care. ⋯ There is a need for a confidential patient relatives' questionnaire in geriatric care. The results revealed good questionnaire reliability and validity. The questionnaire needs to be tested in larger, independent samples in order to validate the indices further.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2003
ReviewImplementing culture change in health care: theory and practice.
To review some of the key debates relating to the nature of organizational culture and culture change care organizations and systems. ⋯ Managing organizational culture is increasingly viewed as an essential part of health system reform. To transform the culture of a whole health system such as the UK National Health Service would be a complex, multi-level, and uncertain process, comprising a range of interlocking strategies and supporting tactics unfolding over a period of years.