International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care
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Int J Qual Health Care · Oct 2011
Promoting patient-centered care: a qualitative study of facilitators and barriers in healthcare organizations with a reputation for improving the patient experience.
To investigate organizational facilitators and barriers to patient-centered care in US health care institutions renowned for improving the patient care experience. ⋯ Organizations that have succeeded in fostering patient-centered care have gone beyond mainstream frameworks for quality improvement based on clinical measurement and audit and have adopted a strategic organizational approach to patient focus.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Oct 2011
Nationwide quality improvement of cholecystectomy: results from a national database.
To evaluate whether quality improvements in the performance of cholecystectomy have been achieved in Denmark since 2006, after revision of the Danish National Guidelines for treatment of gallstones. ⋯ The study demonstrates nationwide quality improvements of cholecystectomy in Denmark from 2006 to 2009.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2011
ReviewIndigenous cultural training for health workers in Australia.
Culturally inappropriate health services contribute to persistent health inequalities. This article reviews approaches to indigenous cultural training for health workers and assesses how effectively they have been translated into training programmes within Australia. ⋯ This review shows that the evidence for the effectiveness of indigenous cultural training programmes in Australia is poor. Critiques of cultural training from indigenous and non-indigenous scholars suggest that a 'cultural safety' model may offer the most potential to improve the effectiveness of health services for indigenous Australians.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2011
Multicenter StudyBenchmarking improves quality in cystic fibrosis care: a pilot project involving 12 centres.
Health care quality monitoring has been introduced in cystic fibrosis (CF) by a few groups and national registries. Based upon this, continuous quality improvement can be achieved by applying the benchmarking method which is focused on learning from best practice. ⋯ CF provides a model of the link between processes of health care delivery and health outcomes of patients. Quality improvement is a continuous goal in CF care with realistic potential as exemplified by our data. Accountability was introduced and transparency was improved by our pilot benchmarking project. Using the benchmarking procedure, our long-term project will reinforce standards, programmes, and individual attitudes and principles to ensure continuous quality improvement in CF health care.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2011
A quality improvement initiative to improve adherence to national guidelines for empiric management of community-acquired pneumonia in emergency departments.
The objective of this study was to improve the concordance of community-acquired pneumonia management in Australian emergency departments with national guidelines through a quality improvement initiative promoting concordant antibiotic use and use of a pneumonia severity assessment tool, the pneumonia severity index (PSI). ⋯ Improved uptake of guideline recommendations for community-acquired pneumonia management in emergency departments was documented following a multi-faceted education intervention.