Quality of patient care

O Antithrombotic therapies require meticulous and systematic monitoring, as well as ongoing patient education. Well-organized anticoagulation management services improve the quality of patient care and reduce the overall cost. 

MedWatch program. The FDA recently established the Special Nutritionals Adverse Event Monitoring System, a searchable database including information about suspected adverse events associated with dietary supplements or nutritional products. This database includes reports that have been submitted to MedWatch and can be accessed via the Internet (http //vm.cfsan.fda.gov/ dms/ aems.html). Continued efforts by health-care professionals to recognize and report suspected interactions between prescription medications and herbal and other alternative therapies should ultimately increase knowledge and awareness of interactions and improve the quality of patient care (see Heck et al., 2000 Izzo, 2004 Butterweck, 2004 Chan, 2005). 

Laine C, Goldman L, Soukup JR, Hayes JG. The impact of a regulation restricting medical house staff working hours on the quality of patient care. JAMA 1993 269(3)374-378. 

Quality is an essential component of competent, professional pharmacy practice. Increasing quality can have many beneficial effects on any practice, such as minimizing rework and increasing productivity. Many quality improvement changes are simple and can be implemented quickly but may have a large impact on the quality of patient care. 

Customer dissatisfaction is one of the hardest costs to determine, but the most easily observable. Customers expect that products typically held by a pharmacy are readily available for purchase during normal business hours. Stockouts often produce frustrabon and dissatisfaction among customers, but, if infrequent, may be forgiven. However, frequent stockouts can result in a loss of business. In hospitals, frequent stockouts of commonly used products can result in a decline in the quality of patient care, create frustration among the medical and nursing staffs, and promote dissension between the pharmacy and other staffs. 

Standard operating procedures have existed for the dispensing supply process in their current form since January 2005. They were put in place to ensure clinical governance of the dispensing procedure. Clinical governance is the term used in the NHS and private healthcare system to describe a systematic approach to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care. 

Ross JW, Boone DJ. Assessing the effect of mistakes in the total testing process on the quality of patient care [Abstract 102]. In Martin L, Wagner W> Essien JDK, eds. 1989 Institute of critical issues in health laboratory practice Minneapolis, MN DuPont Press, 1991. 

This statement represents the position of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) on the role of pharmacists in collaborative drug therapy management. Furthermore, a model for collaborative management of drug therapy is described and endorsed as a way to enhance the quality of patient care within health care systems. 

Not only has the role of the pharmacist evolved, but market-driven forces have eaused the entire health care system in the United States to become more collaborative in nature. Pharmacists now have an opportunity to participate in collaborative drug therapy management and eontribute to the quality of patient care in concert with other health care professionals. 

To evaluate impact OD of reactive clinical pharmacy interventions on cost and quality of patient care... 

ChW2] To determine impact of clinical interventions on cost and quality of patient care OD None None Number of inappropriate laboratory tests, DCA Annual dmg cost avoidance of 26,580 ... 

UAAC> 2i To evaluate impact of clinical pharmacy interventions on cost and quality of patient care COD None Personnel costs Physician acceptance, DCA, various quality indicators Annual extrapolated cost savings 19,076 Documented cost and quality using daily patient data collection forms... 

To evaluate OD impact of clinical RPh on cost and quality of patient care Pharmacokinetic monitoring service None None Physician acceptance, patient outcome indicators, DCA 205 interventions made during 6-mo study 80.9% made to increase quality 18.1% to increase quality and decrease cost ... 

CH[ ) To determine physician acceptance and impact of clinical pharmacokinetic recommendations on cost and quality of patient care CBA Control group Variable costs, personnel costs, fixed costs Acceptance by physicians, LOS, DCA, clinical response Decreased LOS decreased febrile period decreased direct costs cost of service 85/patient ... 

To evaluate antimicrobial management program and evaluate impact on cost and quality of patient care OA Historical control None DCA Gross savings in antibiotic acquisition cost 483,032/yr Cost associated with service considered, but not quantified... 

Gh[85] (VA) To evaluate impact of antibiotic policy on hospital costs and quality of patient care OA Pre/post None DCA, duration of antibiotics, LOS, mortality Decreased monthly antibiotic costs by 7600 average savings 91,200 annually fewer deaths decreased LOS ... 

Uj [i07j evaluate impact of H2RA program on cost and quality of patient care Target drug programs NSAIDs OA Pre/post None Patient outcome, ADRs, drug interactions, DCA Decreased cost but preserved quality Input costs not considered... 

Lobas, N.H. Lepinski, P.W. Abramowitz, P.W. Effects of pharmaceutical care on medication cost and quality of patient care in an ambulatory care clinic. Am. J. Hosp. Pharm. 1992, 49, 1681-1688. 

Centralized units have some advantages, such as less investment in equipment, better use of multidose vials, recycling of unused preparations, better working conditions, a good opportunity for clinical intervention by pharmacists, and improvement in the quality of patient care when the CIVAS is well coordinated with the unit-dose system. 

Works with other health care providers and relevant committees to develop programs for improving drug use and quality of patient care. 

Advance the quality of patient care through optimal medication management based on sound pharmacotherapeutic principles. 

Of course other forces than high-flying science and the Internet, and much more familiar to down-to-earth healthcare administrators, have driven innovations to healthcare. There have been issues of poor safety records and extensive litigation, and of paper-based bureaucratic inefficiency, that information the new medicine can and must fix. Today s healthcare industry contends with a common set of challenges the pressure to contain and reduce the cost of patient care an aging population and the commensurate increase in the demand for healthcare the desire to maintain or improve the current quality of patient care organizational mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations and... 

So here is an attempt at a definition. Clinical decision intelligence is the application of IT to help gather, understand, and act on all available data in clinical practice, healthcare management and administration, and medical research, and where appropriate the automatic utilization of data to control certain clinical and research processes. Its aims are to encourage best practices to improve the quality of patient care by enhancing speed and efficiency to reduce safety risks and needless costs in clinical treatment, diagnosis, management, and administration to monitor and log interactions for accountability, culpability, liability and repudiation and to facilitate biomedical research and pharmaceutical development where based on inclusion of clinical and related data. 

The authors concluded that the CHG product reduced the nosocomial infection rate more effectively than did use of alcohol and soap and attributed the results, at least in part, to better handwashing compliance when the CHG product was used. Alcohol preparations kill bacteria rapidly, theoretically permitting briefer washing time. Voss and Widmer stated that alcoholic hand disinfection, with its rapid activity, superior efficacy, and minimal time commitment, allows 100% healthcare worker compliance without interfering with the quality of patient care [24]. Alcohol preparations are inexpensive and can be used without a sink, when sinks are unavailable, or when tap water is contaminated—a major advantage in developing countries. 

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