APA Health Care and Life Sciences

M4D1: Making the Case for Quality and Safety

The first question is based on what you have learned this term so you can engage in discussion immediately.

According to your Hostetter & Klein (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/using-patient-reported-outcomes-improve-health-care-quality) reading, patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) are a critical component of assessing whether clinicians are improving the health of patients. PROMs attempt to capture whether the services provided improved patients’ health and sense of well-being. For example, patients might be asked to assess their general health, ability to complete various activities, mood, level of fatigue, and pain. Typical measures of quality tend to look at institutional measures like mortality, infection, and reinfection rates.

The authors further state that the ultimate measure of health system performance is whether it helps people recover from an acute illness, live well with a chronic condition, and face the end of life with dignityand people’s reports are the only way to gauge success.

1. In your opinion: Think about these statements and discuss the following: To what extent do you believe that what patients/consumers define as good quality outcomes is the same as health professionals? What are the differences? The areas of congruence?

Now lets apply the readings to analyze the Commonwealth case study together as a group. Lets consider ourselves as a group of health professionals looking at this organizations report an interdisciplinary team consisting of public health, allied health, health sciences, and nursing professionals.

We have reviewed many topics related to quality and patient/consumer safety, including but not limited to quality outcomes, accreditation and/or licensure, standards of care, specific drivers of quality and safety initiatives, quality or patient safety tools used, economic costs, and technologies used.

2. Looking at this case, what stood out to you as patient/consumer safety initiatives?

3. What promoted a culture of quality and patient/consumer safety? Please describe fully, as if you are brainstorming in an analytical meeting with your health team, and apply your course materials to support your points.

4. Lets circle back to the opinion question. Given all weve learned this week, what role do you think that patient/consumer feedback on quality can play in improvement of health care quality across the spectrum of services from prevention to end of life care?

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/using-patient-reported-outcomes-improve-health-care-quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWtIAoBDtE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.ihi.org/education/ihiopenschool/resources/Pages/Activities/DefiningQualityAimingforaBetterHealthCareSystem.aspx

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK43982/