Quality Assurance in Healthcare
What the chapter is about
This chapter considers the role of quality assurance in healthcare. It starts by asking “What is quality?” before discussing how it may be measured. It considers the role of incentives and how remuneration may be linked to performance. The second part of the chapter looks at the process of assuring quality by establishing a culture of patient safety before considering the roles of internal and external audits, and the influence of certification and accreditation on quality.
Listen to an AI-generated discussion about the contents of the chapter
The case studies from this chapter are from:
- Jordan
- Netherlands
- South Africa
- United States
References with links to full text where available
Algunmeeyn, A., Alrawashdeh, M., & Alhabashneh, H. (2020). Benefits of applying for hospital accreditation: the perspective of staff. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(6), 1233-1240.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jonm.13066
Ameh, S., Gómez-Olivé, F. X., Kahn, K., Tollman, S. M., & Klipstein-Grobusch, K. (2017). Relationships between structure, process and outcome to assess quality of integrated chronic disease management in a rural South African setting: applying a structural equation model. BMC health services research, 17, 1-15.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-017-2177-4
Beck, N., van Bommel, A. C., Eddes, E. H., van Leersum, N. J., Tollenaar, R. A., & Wouters, M. W. (2020). The Dutch Institute for Clinical Auditing: achieving Codman’s dream on a nationwide basis. Annals of Surgery, 271(4), 627-631.
https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/FullText/2020/04000/The_Dutch_Institute_for_Clinical_Auditing_.7.aspx
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Guideline for prevention of catheter associated urinary tract infections (2009).
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/cauti/background.html
Crosby, P (1978) Quality Is Free: The Art of Making Quality Certain McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN: 9780070145122.
Day, S.W., McKeon, L.M., Garcia, J., Wilimas, J.A., Carty, R.M., de Alarcon, P., Antillon, F., & Howard, S.C. (2013). Use of joint commission international standards to evaluate and improve pediatric oncology nursing care in Guatemala. Pediatric blood & cancer, 60(5), pp.810–815.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.24318.
Deming, W. E. (2018). Out of the crisis. MIT Press.
Donabedian, A (2005) Evaluating the Quality of Medical Care, The Milbank Quarterly, 83(4):691-729
Institute of Medicine (2001) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America: Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).
Halasa, Y. A., Zeng, W., Chappy, E., & Shepard, D. S. (2015). Value and impact of international hospital accreditation: a case study from Jordan. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 21(2), 90–99.
https://doi.org/10.26719/2015.21.90
International Organization for Standardisation. (2015) Quality management systems -Requirements (ISO Standard No. 9001)
https://www.iso.org/standard/62085.html
International Organization for Standardisation. (2016) Medical devices – Quality management systems – Requirements for regulatory purposes (ISO Standard No. 13485)
https://www.iso.org/standard/59752.html
International Organization for Standardization. (2018). Guidelines for auditing management systems (ISO Standard No. 19011).
https://www.iso.org/standard/70017.html
International Organization for Standardization. (2023a) Glossary Guidance on selected words used in the ISO 9000 family of standards
https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/standards/docs/en/terminology-ISO9000-family.pdf
International Organization for Standardization. (2023b) Healthcare organization management – Management systems for quality in healthcare organizations – Requirements. (ISO Standard No. 7101)
https://www.iso.org/standard/81647.html
Lachman P, Batalden P and Vanhaecht K. (2021) A multidimensional quality model: an opportunity for patients, their kin, healthcare providers and professionals to coproduce health F1000Research 2021, 9:1140
https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.26368.3
Shewhart W A.(1931) Economic control of quality of manufactured product. New York: Van Nostrand.
Tomblin, B. T. (2021). Effect of Joint Commission International Accreditation on Hospital Performance: a Systematic Literature Review (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh).
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/40782/
