Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care / ISQA
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In short, quality assurance in UK healthcare has developed since the mid-1980s driven by a series of national policy initiatives in the NHS, by increasing determination of the clinical professions to maintain standards, and by a general consumer movement to know more about public and professional services. Much has been achieved but there remains substantial debate about quality assurance leadership, coordination, funding and evaluation--or even what to call it.
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Qual Assur Health Care · Jun 1993
Improving quality in emergency services to reduce hospital admission.
At the Emergency Department of Udine General Hospital (Italy) a programme to reduce admissions to the Internal Medicine Department was introduced in 1991. The majority of these admissions come from the Emergency Department, where many people, often without acute conditions, claim medical care. The programme consisted in organizational, professional and economic changes. ⋯ Finally, examinations for internal medical complaints in the emergency ward, not followed by hospitalization, increased by 15.5%. These results showed a reduction in admissions to the Internal Medicine Department greater than previously planned, with an increase in the number of outpatient examinations in the emergency room not followed by admission. Further targets were planned for 1992 to increase the quality of the service.
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Qual Assur Health Care · Mar 1993
Comparative StudyMajor differences in trauma care between hospitals in Sweden: a preliminary report.
The quality of trauma care has been studied at five different Swedish hospitals. The results suggest that improvements in the quality of medical care for patients with severe road traffic injuries can be achieved by reorganizing the highly decentralized trauma care system in Sweden. Above all there is a need for a better structure and organization of the on-call system and of the cooperation of physicians of different specialties within the hospital. ⋯ The greatest problems arose in early diagnosis and treatment of bleeding in abdominal injuries. This was caused by inexperience in the first on-call team in combination with late assessment by second on-call consultants. Fractures of the femoral shaft in almost half of the cases did not get definitive surgery until several days after the accident.
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Qual Assur Health Care · Sep 1992
A pilot project on quality assurance in nursing care in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Federal Republic of Germany.
As a direct result of the law passed in Germany requiring the practice of quality assurance in health care which has been in effect since 1 January 1989, the Institute for Health Systems Research in Kiel piloted a project on quality assurance in medicine in 12 hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein from September 1989 to February 1991. Two procedures for measuring the quality of nursing care were also developed in two of these hospitals. ⋯ An extension of the medical side of the project to cover all 80 hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein was planned to begin on 1 January 1992. As far as the nursing side is concerned, approximately 10 procedures will be developed and tested in eight hospitals.