Care Quality Commission

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RMP appointed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide a statutory second opinion on medical treatment for detained patients... 

The Francis report highlighted the failings of care in Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust In psychiatric services, further reports (e.g. Schizophrenia Commission, National Audit of Schizophrenia) have pointed to shortcomings, for example, in service user involvement and standards of physical healthcare. Your Trust will be under pressure to meet targets, and will be reviewed by the quality regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). You can directly contribute to quality of care through audits and Quality Improvement Projects - endearing yourself to your seniors. 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a private, voluntary, not-for-profit organization that serves as a gatekeeper for health care quality and safety. Currently, more than 19,000 health care organizations in the United States and many other countries are JCAHO accredited. Since its earliest inceptions almost 50 years ago, JCAHO has striven to establish health care standards and performance measures. The mission of JCAHO is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. 

A multidisciplinary team works in coordination, sharing both patients and responsibility, both in the patient s direct care and in planning such care. Quality is defined in care planning, such as clinical sessions, elaboration, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of protocols, clinical paths and clinical guidelines, participation in different clinical commissions, and so on. Clinical pharmacists must be recognized as leaders in all drug-related aspects. It is not a right, it must be earned. 

Care and Quality Commission (CQC). 2010. What Standard of Care Can You Expect from Your Hospital Available at http //www.cqc.org.uk/public/what-are-standards/national-standards (last accessed on 20 November 2011). 

Cohen, M., Eustis, M. A., Gribbins, R. E., Changing the Culture of Patient Safety Leadership s Role in Health Care Quality Improvement, Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, Vol. 29,2003, p>p. 329-335. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has incorporated pneumococcal and influenza immunization rates into some of their quality standards. Patients admitted to a hospital for community-acquired pneumonia should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines prior to discharge if not previously administered. In physicians office practice, all persons over 65 years of age who have been hospitalized in the past year should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines if not previously administered. Both of these standards will affect payment if the standard is not met. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has also incorporated these standards into their accreditation reviews of health care facilities. 

Because of the status of the CAC described above, the work that it has carried out in the area of laboratory quality assurance must be carefully considered. One of the CAC Committees, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS), has developed criteria for assessing the competence of testing laboratories involved in the official import and export control of foods. These were recommended by the Committee at its 21st Session in March 19979 and adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at its 22nd Session in June 1997 10 they mirror the EU recommendations for laboratory quality standards and methods of analysis. The guidelines provide a framework for the implementation of quality assurance measures to ensure the competence of testing laboratories involved in the import and export control of foods. They are intended to assist countries in then-fair trade in foodstuffs and to protect consumers. 

According to the President s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, there are five trends that summarize the characteristics of health insurance plans of the late 1990s ... 

The President s Commission outlines areas in which the American health care system could be improved in light of the reality that many individuals receive substandard care and 44.3 million individuals are without health insurance coverage. This commission outlines several types of quality problems including avoidable errors, underutilization of services, overuse of services, and variation in services. Based on the reality of these quality problems, the Commission recommended that the initial set of national aims should include ... 

In designing a working mission statement for pharmacy practice, the Commission expressed its belief that ... the mission of such practice is to render pharmaceutical care with the view that such care focuses pharmacists attitudes, behaviors, commitments, concerns, ethics, functions, knowledge, responsibilities, and skills on the provision of rational drug therapy. The goal of such therapy being outcomes which improve the quality of patients lives (p. 376). ... 

The issue of quality health care has become an increasing issue of concern in the face of cost constraints and limited access to health care. The President s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry (32) states that the purpose of the health care system must be to continuously reduce the impact and burden of illness, injury and disability and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the U.S. According to the Commission, there are basic characteristics of health care that, as a nation, we should strive to achieve. The Commission has created Guiding Principles for the Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the health care of people in the United States. These include the following ... 

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