Qual Saf Health Care
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Qual Saf Health Care · Feb 2003
Are audits wasting resources by measuring the wrong things? A survey of methods used to select audit review criteria.
This study measured the extent to which a systematic approach was used to select criteria for audit, and identified problems in using such an approach with potential solutions. ⋯ Methods of selecting review criteria were often less systematic than is desirable. Published usable audit protocols providing evidence based review criteria with information on their provenance enable appropriate review criteria to be selected, so that changes in practice based on these criteria lead to real improvement in quality rather than merely change. The availability and use of high quality audit protocols would be a valuable contribution to the evolution of clinical governance. The ACQ should be developed into a tool to help in selecting appropriate criteria to increase the effectiveness of audit.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Feb 2003
Biography Historical Article Classical ArticleThe hazards of hospitalization. 1964.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Feb 2003
Attitudes and behaviour of general practitioners and their prescribing costs: a national cross sectional survey.
General practitioner (GP) prescribing accounts for about 10% of NHS expenditure. GPs at the top of the range have annual prescribing costs that are almost twice as much as those at the bottom of the range. This variation cannot be accounted for purely in terms of differences in underlying need for health care. ⋯ While they cannot be held to have a causal relationship, the pattern of attitudes towards prescribing of GPs in the highest quintile of prescribing costs provide the basis for developing an educational intervention which may be an acceptable method of modifying the attitudes of GPs and consequently reducing their prescribing costs.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Dec 2002
Comparative StudyPatient and nurse assessment of quality of care in postoperative pain management.
To describe and compare patient and nurse assessments of the quality of care in postoperative pain management, to investigate differences between subgroups of patients, and to compare patient assessments in different departments. ⋯ The results provided valuable baseline data and identified important areas for quality improvement in postoperative pain management.