{"title":"An investigation of awareness of antenatal protocols.","authors":"A Yoong, N Simpson, C Hudson, T Chard","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.119","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous audit at the Homerton Hospital had revealed a poor level of compliance with established antenatal protocols mandated by risk factors detected at the booking visit. Medical staff were questioned as to their awareness of five of the most important protocols and their response was analysed by a new scoring system. The scores were generally low though consultants scored more highly than junior staff. Scores were related to the length of obstetric experience and duration of work in the obstetric unit but were not related to frequency of the use of the protocol manual nor to the last time that reference was made to the manual. To improve compliance within the unit, the following recommendations were made: (1) regular revision of protocols to incorporate the current views of senior clinicians and (2) improved dissemination of information. The scoring system described here should prove to be a simple and effective method for the assessment of protocols within any unit.</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"119-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.119","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19350103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Registration of adverse patient occurrences in a university hospital: relations between adverse patient occurrences and characteristics of hospitalized patients.","authors":"J Bomhof, F H Nieman, E Reerink","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.167","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper reports the results of a survey on adverse patient occurrences (APOs) in patient care in a university hospital in The Netherlands. Screening for APOs is important as an instrument of quality assurance. Results from 1 year of screening have been related to specific patient characteristics. Age, length of stay and diagnosis group are strongly related to the identified APOs. The chances of APOs are very high if the patient belongs to certain diagnosis groups (operation procedure salivary gland, malignant disorder ear, nose, throat) and at the same time has a long length of stay in the hospital. The chances of being afflicted with more than one APO are strongly related to age and length of stay. With regard to the types of APO, this study shows a relation between patient characteristics and some APOs, but the statistical significance or the nature of these relations varies with type.</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"167-74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.167","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19349386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quality assurance: an Australian lawyer's perspective.","authors":"M A Hartley, A Rassaby","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.103","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"103-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.103","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19350099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Emergency treatment of bronchospastic attacks in an emergency medicine department: effects of a quality improvement project.","authors":"E Barboni, C Liva, P Rossi, M Sacher, F Perraro","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.123","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.123","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>New insights have recently changed the therapeutical approach to bronchospastic attack (BA). In this paper we present the results of a quality assurance study devised to: (1) verify the extent to which these new insights are put into practice in our Emergency Medicine Department (EMD); (2) evaluate changes in EMD medical staff behaviour faced with BA after discussion and distribution of medical practice guidelines on the treatment of BA (a document produced by a group of experts in pulmonary medicine working in the EMD on the basis of current literature and personal experiences); (3) assess the impact of such guidelines on quality care. A retrospective analysis demonstrated an incorrect treatment of BA in the EMD. After the introduction of the guidelines we observed: (1) an improvement in physician behaviour that completely agreed with guidelines in 56% of instances after discussion and distribution of the document, in 8% before; (2) an improvement in the outcome of patients treated for BA in the EMD (13 versus 36% relapses for patients treated in the EMD and discharged).</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"123-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.123","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19350104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adverse patient occurrences in a university hospital: a comparison of screening results registered by specialists and by external review.","authors":"J Bomhof, J W Arends, J van der Beek","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.157","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A quality assurance system for generic screening of patient care has been developed in a university hospital in The Netherlands. This system is based on the Medical Management Analysis System, developed in the United States. Patient care is systematically screened for adverse patient occurrences (APOs). Screening criteria have been developed and some adjustments have been made to the original system, because of structural differences in health care between the United States and The Netherlands. The results of a study comparing two screening strategies are presented: screening by a medically trained, outside reviewer and screening by the Ear, Nose and Throat specialists themselves. The reviewer screened almost all admissions to the department as opposed to the specialist, who filled in screening forms of only 77.5% of the admissions. Specialists are found to register more APOs in their own domain (42%) as compared to the screener (28%). Issues concerning the nursing process receive less attention by the specialists (14%) than by the screener (22%). Because the personnel delivering direct patient care are more familiar with and informed about this process of care, the importance is stressed of getting specialists as well as nurses involved in the evaluation of the care they deliver to patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"157-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.157","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19349385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quality of care in eastern Europe: the diagnosis is clear, the therapy not.","authors":"H Vuori","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.2.99","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.99","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 2","pages":"99-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.2.99","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19349388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Major differences in trauma care between hospitals in Sweden: a preliminary report.","authors":"K A Alberts, B Brismar, A Nygren","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.1.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.13","url":null,"abstract":"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 medical care of patients with severe injuries was delayed in 30% and was inappropriate in 7% of cases. Assessment of the quality showed great variation between the hospitals. The medical care was in fact not best at the university hospital but at one well-functioning small hospital. It was an effect of an on-call system at the small hospital, which guarantees rapid participation of senior staff in both general surgery and orthopaedic surgery. 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.","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 1","pages":"13-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.13","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19439925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do doctors need Deming?","authors":"B T Collopy","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 1","pages":"3-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19439927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quality comparisons between privately and publicly managed health care centres in a suburban area of Stockholm, Sweden.","authors":"H Hansagi, J Calltorp, S Andréasson","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.1.33","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.33","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As in many other countries, the health care system in Sweden is currently undergoing rapid changes. Within a framework of public financing, the delivery of health care is to an increasing extent being transferred to various entrepreneurs; private, public or cooperatives. A privately run, but publicly financed, health care centre was evaluated with regard to quality and costs. Quality was defined in terms of the central guidelines for Swedish primary health care: first level responsibility, accessibility, a holistic view of the patient, and continuity of care and safety. The services offered by the private health care centre were evaluated by different methods--questionnaires, health care utilization data and economic analyses--and found to be of similar quality but produced at a lower cost than by three publicly managed health care centres.</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 1","pages":"33-40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.33","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19439928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The appropriateness of human albumin use in the hospital of Padova, Italy.","authors":"C Favaretti, V Selle, A Marcolongo, A Orsini","doi":"10.1093/intqhc/5.1.49","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.49","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The authors present the findings of a study in three stages (1989-1991) on the appropriateness of human albumin use at the hospital of Padova, Italy. In the first stage, guidelines for appropriate use were defined and a monitoring system was set up. In the second stage, compliance of the hospital departments with the new guidelines was assessed in a sample of human albumin prescription charts and related medical records. This revealed a reduction in consumption of 25%. Sixty-eight per cent of all albumin was given for indications that are only occasionally appropriate. The information given in the prescription chart agreed with the diagnosis contained in the medical records in 78% of cases. At the end of this stage new regulating mechanisms were introduced. The third stage consisted of a medium-term assessment and produced basically the same results as the previous stage. Crucial steps in the implementation of effective actions in quality improvement processes have been discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":77341,"journal":{"name":"Quality assurance in health care : the official journal of the International Society for Quality Assurance in Health Care","volume":"5 1","pages":"49-55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1993-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/intqhc/5.1.49","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19439930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}