Quality Assurance Flashcards
What is Continuous Quality Improvement?
Ongoing review and improvement of the processes of providing healthcare services to meet the needs of patient and staff.
What is the Quality Assurance (QA) office now referred to as?
Quality Improvement or Quality Improvement Coordinator
What is meant by Quality?
It is the degree of adherence to generally recognized standards of good practice and achievement of anticipated outcomes for a particular service, procedure, diagnosis, or clinical problem.
What is Quality Assurance?
A program of evaluation that is planned, systematic, and ongoing to identify problems, take opportunities to improve care or verify care, meeting standards.
Define Risk Management.
The process of identifying, and if possible, eliminating the risk of financial loss to the medical facility and its staff.
What is the key concept of Quality Improvement?
QI begins with education at all levels from top executives to hourly employees. Its principles seek to make improvements in the system, not to determine blame or responsibility.
(True or Flase) Some QI concepts include processes and systems, customers and suppliers, quality, team and teamwork, and scientific approach.
True
What is meant by processes and systems?
- Grouping in sequence, of all the tasks directed at accomplishing one particular outcome.
- Individual TASK/activities are merely PART of a PROCESS
- A series of related TASKS is a PROCESS
- A group of related PROCESSES is a SYSTEM
- It is important to focus on the PROCESS within the SYSTEM, not the SYSTEM ITSELF
What is the difference between customers and suppliers?
CUSTOMERS - Individuals whom a service is provided
SUPPLIERS - Individuals or organizations that provide services to customers.
What are the 2 types of customers and who might be in what group?
INTERNAL CUSTOMER - Physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff.
EXTERNAL CUSTOMER - Patients, family members, or venders.
Pertaining to QI concepts, Quality is determined by how the customer defines the product or service provided. How might we create a satisfied customer?
Be able to identify their needs, wants, and expectations
Pertaining to QI concepts, how might you define “team and teamwork”?
A group of people involved in the process under examination, each contributing their own knowledge and skills in order to constructively review the process and recommend effective and permanent solutions.
How does scientific approach help establish QI?
It is the primary method of evaluating opportunities to improve quality by gathering statistics reflecting performance. It eliminates the introduction of subjectivity in the review process.
What are some objectives of QI?
- Involve interrelated government, management, support, and clinical staff in improvement initiatives
- Organize QI activities around flow of patient care
- Focus on improvement of processes and away from individual providers
- Integrate efforts to improve patient outcome
- Focus on opportunities for improvement rather than problems.
(True or False) The difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement is that QA pertains more to a department and QI pertains more to an entire organization.
True
