American Journal of Medical Quality This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Dependence of All-Cause Standardized In-Hospital Mortality on Sepsis Mortality Between 2005 and 2010
Sepsis is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. The authors evaluated the dependence of all-cause in-hospital mortality on sepsis mortality. A retrospective observational cohort design and All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups were used to evaluate 150 410 patients (>17 years of age) over 6 years. The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) decreased from 0.80 ± 0.04 to 0.65 ± 0.04 (observed/expected [O/E]). The HSMR was correlated with the standardized sepsis mortality ratio (SSMR), accounting for 61% of the variation (P < .0001). The mortality rate for sepsis declined from ...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Reed, H. L., Renton, S. D., Hines, M. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Factors Influencing the Increasing Disparity in LDL Cholesterol Control Between White and Black Patients With Diabetes in a Context of Active Quality Improvement
After implementing a multifaceted physician-directed quality improvement (QI) initiative, an increased disparity in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol control between white and black diabetes patients was observed. To examine possible causes, a retrospective analysis of 962 black and white patients treated continuously between 2008 and 2010 was performed. At baseline, 55.0% of whites and 49.8% of blacks were controlled (5.2% disparity). The disparity increased, with 61.8% of whites and 44.6% of blacks having control in 2010 (17.2% disparity). Among patients uncontrolled at baseline, blacks were less likely to become...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Zhang, R., Lee, J. Y., Jean-Jacques, M., Persell, S. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Decline in ACEI/ARB Prescribing as Heart Failure Core Metrics Improve During Computer-Based Clinical Decision Support
Computer-based clinical decision-support systems are effective interventions to improve compliance with guidelines and quality measures. However, understanding of their long-term impact, including unintended consequences, is limited. The authors assessed the clinical impact of the sequential implementation of 2 such systems to improve the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEIs/ARBs) in inpatients with heart failure. Compliance with the core measure improved from 91.0% at baseline to 93.6% with the Pharmacy Care (P-Care) Rule and to 96.4% with the Centricity-Blaze (CE-Blaze) Rul...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Caraballo, P. J., Naessens, J. M., Klarich, M. J., Leutink, D. J., Peterson, J. A., Wagie, A. E., Manning, D. M., Qian, Q. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Measuring Diabetes Care Performance Using Electronic Health Record Data: The Impact of Diabetes Definitions on Performance Measure Outcomes
The objective was to examine the use of electronic health record (EHR) data for diabetes performance measurement. Data were extracted from the EHR of a health system to identify patients with diabetes using 8 different EHR data-based methods of identification. These EHR-based methods were compared to the gold standard of a manual medical record review. The study team then assessed whether the method of identifying patients with diabetes could affect performance measurement scores. The sensitivity of the 8 EHR-based methods of identifying patients with diabetes ranged from moderate to high. The use of certain data elements ...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Hirsch, A. G., Scheck McAlearney, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Path to Quality in Outpatient Practice: Meaningful Use, Patient-Centered Medical Homes, Financial Incentives, and Technical Assistance
Adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records is considered an essential step to improve the quality of health care. The authors assessed whether a series of Connecticut primary care providers who achieved Stage I Meaningful Use of electronic health records used quality improvement strategies that are associated with improvements in care. Practice structural characteristics, quality improvement–related electronic health record processes, outcomes, and barriers were assessed in 14 primary care practices. Implementation of quality improvement–related electronic health record processes was variable and ...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Meehan, T. P., Meehan, T. P., Kelvey-Albert, M., Van Hoof, T. J., Ruth, S., Petrillo, M. K. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Quality and Safety Track: Training Future Physician Leaders
Future physician leaders will need the knowledge and skills necessary to improve systems of care. To address this need, Pritzker School of Medicine implemented a 4-year scholarly track in quality and patient safety for medical students. The Quality and Safety Track (QST) includes an intensive elective that teaches basic quality-improvement skills, an individual mentored scholarly project, and engagement in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School. The first-year elective incorporates a group project that allows students to apply basic process improvement skills. Institutional quality and safety leaders also pre...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - July 16, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Vinci, L. M., Oyler, J., Arora, V. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

AJMQ Newsletter
(Source: American Journal of Medical Quality)
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Cross, J. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Differences Between Doctors' and Nurses' Attitudes Toward Adverse Event Reporting and Assessments of Factors That Inhibit Reporting
(Source: American Journal of Medical Quality)
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Shu, Q., Tao, H.-b., Fu, J., Zhang, R.-n., Zhou, J., Cheng, Z.-h. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Assessing the Effects of Executive WalkRounds on Safety Climate Attitudes in the OR Setting at a Tertiary Hospital
(Source: American Journal of Medical Quality)
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Chua, M. E., Luna, S. L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

"Nurses, Docs, and Drugs": Interprofessional Facilitation to Implement Opioid Risk Mitigation Within the Patient-Centered Medical Home
(Source: American Journal of Medical Quality)
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Saenger, M., Duva, I., Abraham, C. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Teaching for Quality: Where Do We Go From Here?
(Source: American Journal of Medical Quality)
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Baron, R. B., Davis, N. L., Davis, D. A., Headrick, L. A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Agreement and Disagreement on Health Care Quality Concepts Among Academic Health Professionals: The Saudi Case
A systematic and rigorous implementation of quality improvement processes is likely to improve the well-being of staff members and heighten their job satisfaction. Assessing professionals’ perceptions of health care quality should lead to the betterment of health care services. In Saudi Arabia, no previous studies examine how university health professionals view health care quality concepts. A cross-sectional analytical study employing a self-administered questionnaire with 43 statements assessing quality perceptions of academic health care professionals was used. Despite the agreement of health professionals on nume...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Mahrous, M. S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Development of a Validated Checklist for Radial Arterial Line Placement: Preliminary Results
Radial arterial line placement is an invasive procedure that may result in complications. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills and may result in improved health care quality. The results of the first step of the validation of a radial arterial line placement checklist are described. A comprehensive literature review of articles published on radial arterial line placement did not yield a checklist validated by the Delphi method. A modified Delphi technique, involving a panel of 9 interdisciplinary, interinstitutional experts, was used to develop a radial arterial line placement checkl...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Berg, K., Riesenberg, L. A., Berg, D., Schaeffer, A., Davis, J., Justice, E. M., Tinkoff, G., Jasper, E. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Improving Medication Administration Safety in Solid Organ Transplant Patients Through Barcode-Assisted Medication Administration
Solid organ transplant recipients are prescribed a high number of medications, increasing the potential for medication errors. Barcode-assisted medication administration (BCMA) is technology that reduces medication administration errors. An observational study was conducted at an academic medical center solid organ transplant unit before and after BMCA implementation. Medication accuracy was determined and administration errors were categorized by type and therapeutic class of medication. A baseline medication administration error rate of 4.8% was observed with wrong dose errors representing 78% of the errors. During the p...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Bonkowski, J., Weber, R. J., Melucci, J., Pesavento, T., Henry, M., Moffatt-Bruce, S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Which Outpatient Wait-Time Measures Are Related to Patient Satisfaction?
Long waits for appointments decrease patient satisfaction. Administrative wait-time measures are used by managers, but relationships between these measures and satisfaction have not been studied. Data from the Veterans Health Administration are used to examine the relationship between wait times and satisfaction. Outcome measures include patient-reported satisfaction and timely appointment access. Capacity and retrospective and prospective time stamp measures are calculated separately for new and returning patients. The time stamp measures consist of the date when the appointment was created in the scheduling system (creat...
Source: American Journal of Medical Quality - May 9, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Prentice, J. C., Davies, M. L., Pizer, S. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research