Qual Saf Health Care
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Qual Saf Health Care · Jun 2004
Biography Historical ArticleIgnaz Semmelweis and the birth of infection control.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Jun 2004
Comparative StudyComparison of health care professionals' self-assessments of standards of care and patients' opinions on the care they received in hospital: observational study.
To compare the views of healthcare professionals and patients regarding compliance with standards of care concerning patient information. ⋯ There are both similarities and differences between patients' and healthcare professionals' views of care. Accurate assessments of quality performed during the accreditation procedure require that both patients' and professionals' views be taken into account.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Jun 2004
Effect of a scoring system and protocol for sedation on duration of patients' need for ventilator support in a surgical intensive care unit.
Need for improved sedation strategy for adults receiving ventilator support. ⋯ Relatively simple changes in sedation practice had significant effects on length of ventilator support. The change process was well received by the staff and increased their interest in identifying other areas for improvement.
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Qualitative research can make a valuable contribution to the study of quality and safety in health care. Sound ways of appraising qualitative research are needed, but currently there are many different proposals with few signs of an emerging consensus. One problem has been the tendency to treat qualitative research as a unified field. ⋯ There may be a need for appraisal criteria suited to the different methods of qualitative data collection and to different methodological approaches. These more specific criteria would help to distinguish fatal flaws from more minor errors in the design, conduct, and reporting of qualitative research. There will be difficulties in doing this because some aspects of qualitative research, particularly those relating to quality of insight and interpretation, will remain difficult to appraise and will rely largely on subjective judgement.