International journal of health care quality assurance
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The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of how patient deterioration is detected and how clinical care escalates when early warning score (EWS) systems are used. ⋯ The paper raises the EWS debate and alerts EWS users that scrutiny is required.
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Lean and Six Sigma are continuous improvement methodologies that have garnered international fame for improving manufacturing and service processes. Increasingly these methodologies are demonstrating their power to also improve healthcare processes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a case study for the application of Lean and Six Sigma tools in the reduction of turnaround time (TAT) for Emergency Department (ED) specimens. This application of the scientific methodologies uncovered opportunities to improve the entire ED to lab system for the specimens. ⋯ While this is not the first case study that has demonstrated the use of continuous process improvement methodologies to improve a hospital process, it is unique in the way in which it utilizes the strength of the project focussed approach that adheres more to the structure and rigor of Six Sigma and relied less on the speed of lean. Additionally, the application of these methodologies in healthcare is emerging research.
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The current trend in Big Data analytics and in particular health information technology is toward building sophisticated models, methods and tools for business, operational and clinical intelligence. However, the critical issue of data quality required for these models is not getting the attention it deserves. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues of data quality in the context of Big Data health care analytics. ⋯ Today, data quality issues are diagnosed and addressed in a piece-meal fashion. The authors recommend a data lifecycle approach and provide a road map, that is more appropriate with the dimensions of Big Data and fits different stages in the analytical workflow.
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2015
Patient safety culture: finding meaning in patient experiences.
The purpose of this paper is to determine what patient and family stories can tell us about patient safety culture within health care organizations and how patients experience patient safety culture. ⋯ Greater acknowledgement of the patient and family experience provides organizations with an integral perspective to assist in defining and addressing deficiencies within their patient safety culture and to identify opportunities for improvement.
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2015
Roadmap for developing a national quality indicator set for general practice.
The purpose of this paper is to describe a national, comprehensive quality indicator set to support delivering high-quality clinical care in Irish general practice. ⋯ The authors describe in detail a method to develop general practice quality indicators for a regional or national population from existing validated indicators using consensus, action research and an illuminative evaluation.