Qual Saf Health Care
-
Qual Saf Health Care · Oct 2007
Shared medical appointments based on the chronic care model: a quality improvement project to address the challenges of patients with diabetes with high cardiovascular risk.
The epidemic proportions and management complexity of diabetes have prompted efforts to improve clinic throughput and efficiency. One method of system redesign based on the chronic care model is the Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) in which groups of patients (8-20) are seen by a multi-disciplinary team in a 1-2 h appointment. Evaluation of the impact of SMAs on quality of care has been limited. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve intermediate outcome measures for diabetes (A1c, SBP, LDL-cholesterol) focusing on those patients at highest cardiovascular risk. ⋯ We were able to initiate a programme of group visits in which participants achieved benefits in terms of cardiovascular risk reduction. Some barriers needed to be addressed, and the operations of SMAs evolved over time. Shared medical appointments for diabetes constitute a practical system redesign that may help to improve quality of care.
-
Qual Saf Health Care · Oct 2007
Multicenter StudyIntensivist physician staffing and the process of care in academic medical centres.
Although intensivist physician staffing is associated with improved outcomes in critical care, little is known about the mechanism leading to this observation. ⋯ High intensity physician staffing is associated with increased use of evidence-based quality indicators in patients receiving mechanical ventilation.
-
Qual Saf Health Care · Oct 2007
French national survey of inpatient adverse events prospectively assessed with ward staff.
To estimate the incidence of adverse events in medical and surgical activity in public and private hospitals, and to assess the clinical situation of patients and the active errors. ⋯ At the national level in France, every year 120,000-190,000 adverse events during hospitalisation can be considered as preventable. Areas such as perioperative period and geriatric units should receive closer attention. As adverse events occurred more commonly in vulnerable patients, who are not specifically targeted by clinical guidance, practising evidence-based medicine is not likely to prevent all cases. Therefore clinical risk management should prioritize empowerment of local staff, provision of favourable conditions within the organisation, and staff training based on simple tools appropriate for ward-level identification and analysis of adverse events.
-
Qual Saf Health Care · Aug 2007
Preventing medication errors in community pharmacy: frequency and seriousness of medication errors.
Medication errors are a widespread problem which can, in the worst case, cause harm to patients. Errors can be corrected if documented and evaluated as a part of quality improvement. The Danish community pharmacies are committed to recording prescription corrections, dispensing errors and dispensing near misses. This study investigated the frequency and seriousness of these errors. ⋯ Prescribing errors were the most frequent type of error reported. Errors that reached the patients were not frequent, but most of them were potentially harmful, and the absolute number of medication errors was high, as provision of medicine is a frequent event in primary care in Denmark. Patient safety could be further improved by optimising the opportunity to learn from the incidents described.