As the debate rages on about how to measure quality, a British Medical Journal analysis argues that hospital "death rates" are a "poor test of quality" and urged inspectors to rely on other measures. It is my opinion that there NEVER will be a true test of quality as quality is indefinable. I highly recommend you read the 70's classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and see how this term basically drove the main character into a psychotic break. The same will happen to our healthcare system.
Posts
2 comments:
Well, death is one thing Doug, but if you trully want to measure quality indicators you must first turn to the staff fridge log, which I'm sure is purely indicative of the institution's approach to quality pt care.
at our institution our surgery department has taken an aggressive posture on peri-operative mortality reduction....they don't operate on ANYONE. As they are all too high risk (basic criteria for being too high risk is that they are alive and surgery could change that). In this situation death rates are NOT a good indicator of quality of care
Post a Comment