American Journal of Medical Quality

Morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes make it a prime target for quality improvement research. Quality gaps and racial/gender disparities persist throughout this population of patients necessitating a sustainable improvement in the clinical management of diabetes. The authors of this study sought (1) to provide a population perspective on diabetes management, and (2) to reinforce evidence-based clinical guidelines through a Web-based educational module.The project also aimed to gain insight into working remotely with a community of rural physicians. This longitudinal pre-post intervention study involved 18 internal medicine physicians and included 3 points of medical record data abstraction over 24 months. A Web-based educational module was introduced after the baseline data abstraction. This module contained chapters on clinical education, practice tools, and self-assessment. The results showed a sustained improvement in most clinical outcomes and demonstrated the effectiveness of using Web-based mediums to reinforce clinical guidelines and change physician behavior.

The Institute of Medicine has suggested that training in team behavior, leadership, communication, and other human factors could reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. Training on such topics has been adapted from teamwork training programs used in military and commercial aviation, called crew resource management (CRM). The principles behind CRM programs have been deployed in a number of clinical settings over the past 2 decades, and there are now several CRM vendors. Little is known about this nascent industry, and the emerging research supporting CRM programs lacks standardization and conclusive evidence. The objectives of this study were to report on the body of empirical data about CRM training in clinical settings and to provide a conceptual framework for evaluating its effectiveness in medicine. Using the proposed conceptual framework, the authors further examine currently published methods of measuring effectiveness and identify future directions for the use of teamwork training in medicine.

Accounting for patients admitted to hospitals at the end of a terminal disease process is key to signaling care quality and identifying opportunities for improvement. This study evaluates the benefits and caveats of incorporating care-limiting orders, such as do not resuscitate (DNR) and palliative care (PC) information, in a general multivariate model of mortality risk, wherein the unit of observation is the patient hospital encounter. In a model of the mortality gap (observed - expected from the baseline model), DNR explains 8% to 24% of the gap variation. PC provides additional explanatory power to some disease groupings, especially heart and digestive diseases. One caveat is that DNR information, especially if associated with the later stages of hospital care, may mask opportunities to improve care for certain types of patients. But that is not a danger for PC, which is unequivocally valuable in accounting for patient risk, especially for certain subpopulations and disease groupings.

In hospitals and health systems, ensuring that standards for the quality of patient care are established and continuous improvement processes are in place are among the board’s most fundamental responsibilities. A recent survey has examined governance oversight of patient care quality at 123 nonprofit community health systems and compared their practices with current benchmarks of good governance. The findings show that 88% of the boards have established standing committees on patient quality and safety, nearly all chief executive officers’ performance expectations now include targets related to patient quality and safety, and 96% of the boards regularly receive formal written reports regarding their organizations’ performance in relation to quality measures and standards. However, there continue to be gaps between present reality and current benchmarks of good governance in several areas. These gaps are somewhat greater for independent systems than for those affiliated with a larger parent organization.

The authors estimated the validity of algorithms for identification of mental health conditions (MHCs) in administrative data for the 133 068 diabetic patients who used Veterans Health Administration (VHA) nationally in 1998 and responded to the 1999 Large Health Survey of Veteran Enrollees. They compared various algorithms for identification of MHCs from International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9) codes with self-reported depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, or schizophrenia from the survey. Positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for identification of MHC varied by algorithm (0.65-0.86, 0.68-0.77, respectively). PPV was optimized by requiring ≥2 instances of MHC ICD-9 codes or by only accepting codes from mental health visits. NPV was optimized by supplementing VHA data with Medicare data. Findings inform efforts to identify MHC in quality improvement programs that assess health care disparities. When using administrative data in mental health studies, researchers should consider the nature of their research question in choosing algorithms for MHC identification.

Provision of language services is central to the delivery of equitable, safe, high-quality health care for patients with limited English proficiency. However, there are many barriers to ensuring access to such services. We analyzed the experience of a model language service program at a public hospital to develop recommendations applicable to all hospitals that wish to create an effective language service program. Our case study demonstrates that with organizational commitment, early information technology involvement, attention to clinical needs, active engagement of stakeholders, and coordinated project management, it is possible to provide high-quality language services in a setting of financial constraints.

To improve safety in the operating theater, a company of aviation pilots was employed to guide implementation of preprocedural briefings. A 5-point Likert scale survey that assessed the attitudes of operating room personnel toward patient safety was distributed before and 6 months following implementation of the briefings. Using Mann-Whitney analysis, the survey showed a significant (P < .05) improvement in 2 questions (of 13) involving reporting error and 2 questions (of 11) involving patient safety climate. When analyzed by occupation, there were no significant changes for faculty physicians; for resident physicians, there was a significant improvement in 1 question (of 13) regarding error reporting. For nurses, there were significant improvements in 3 questions (of 4) involving teamwork, 1 question (of 13) involving reporting error, and 3 questions (of 11) regarding patient safety climate. These results suggest that aviation-based crew resource management initiatives lead to an improved perception of patient safety, which was largely demonstrated by nursing personnel.

This clinical review article examines the patient satisfaction literature for the past 20 years. This literature is summarized for qualitative themes and general trends. Intended for the practicing clinician, these themes are then applied to the emergency department (ED) milieu. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the ED is the point of entry for more than half of all patients admitted to the hospital in the United States. Indeed, the ED is the “front door” to the hospital. According to Press Ganey, satisfaction with ED care is at an all-time low. A review of the literature revealed 5 major elements of the ED experience that correlate with patient satisfaction: timeliness of care, empathy, technical competence, information dispensation, and pain management. The literature supporting these 5 elements is summarized and applications to the ED setting are suggested. Other minor correlates with patient satisfaction are also presented.