A comparative analysis of surveyors from six hospital accreditation programmes and a consideration of the related management issues.
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PURPOSE: To gather data on how accreditors manage surveyors, to compare these data and to offer them to the accreditors for improvement and to the scientific community for knowledge of the accreditation process and reinforcement of the credibility of these processes. DATA SOURCE: The data were gathered with the aid of a questionnaire sent to all accreditors participating in the study. RESULTS: An important finding in this comparative study is the different contractual relationships that exist between the accreditors and their surveyors. CONCLUSION: Surveyors around the world share many common features in terms of careers, training, work history and expectations. These similarities probably arise from the objectives of the accreditors who try to provide a developmental process to their clients rather than an 'inspection'. (+info)
What health plans should know about clinical practice guidelines--round-table discussion.
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Quality is the watchword for health plans that wish to survive to see the new century, and accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance is becoming quality's indispensable stamp. Practice guidelines are an imperative for that accreditation. Here's what seven managed care leaders had to say about guidelines in a recent round-table discussion. (+info)
Putting continuous quality improvement into accreditation: improving approaches to quality assessment.
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The accreditation systems of the United States, Canada, and Australia have been restructured to reflect the adoption by health services of the industrial model of continuous quality improvement. The industrial model of quality makes assumptions about management structures and the relation of process to outcome which are not readily transferable to the assessment of quality in health care. The accreditation systems have therefore had to adapt the principles of continuous quality improvement to reflect the complex nature of health service organisations and the often untested assumptions about the relation between process and outcome. (+info)
An approach to an index of hospital performance.
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Two indexes are described, based on measures of administrative effectiveness and patient care effectiveness. The measures used were selected and ranked by a Delphi panel from a list of 30 measures drawn from the literature. Weights were assigned by the panel to 19 selected measures. The resulting indexes did well in a test on data collected from 32 Texas hospitals. (+info)
Medical education in the USA--adult-friendly?
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In the United States of America, the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) system of training residents has allowed high-quality postgraduate education to flourish. This paper describes the evolution of the AHECs in the context of medical education over the past 50 years. The arrangements for programme administration and design, resident assessment and appraisal, training of trainers in educational methods, and the accreditation of training programmes are discussed. The fast-evolving UK postgraduate education scene can learn some useful lessons from the US system. (+info)
Undergraduate and postgraduate orthodontics in Australia.
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Undergraduate orthodontic education in Australian university dental schools reflects a strong British influence. The Australian Dental Council is now responsible for undergraduate course accreditation and the development of a more distinctly Australian model might be expected, although not in isolation from the traditional British and American influences. Postgraduate specialty training has been more directly influenced by the North American dental schools, and specialist registers in the states and territories reflect that influence. The Australian Dental Council will commence accreditation of postgraduate specialty courses in 1999. (+info)
A review of trauma systems using the Calgary model.
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Surgeons caring for severely injured patients have witnessed tremendous change over the past 2 decades with the rapid evolution of trauma systems. This paper describes the evolution of trauma systems in Canada, using the one in Calgary as a model. Canadian system guidelines were produced by the Trauma Association of Canada in 1993. Participation in Canadian accreditation is accelerating as increasingly more centres across the country undergo external review each year. Reporting of trauma outcomes, including standardized mortality and a variety of performance measures, is becoming the norm. Injury is being treated as a disease with comprehensive control strategies aimed at reducing death and disability rates through prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. (+info)
External quality mechanisms for health care: summary of the ExPeRT project on visitatie, accreditation, EFQM and ISO assessment in European Union countries. External Peer Review Techniques. European Foundation for Quality Management. International Organization for Standardization.
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This paper is a summary of the operation, findings and conclusions of a European Union project on external peer review techniques, termed 'ExPeRT', to research the scope, mechanisms and use of external quality mechanisms in the improvement of health care. Many of the themes outlined are described in detail in other papers that have been prepared specifically for this issue of The International Journal for Quality in Health Care. Although the emphasis of this project and of this issue of the Journal is on Europe, the conclusions are more widely relevant. (+info)