Perspectives on quality in nursing

Question 1

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE

Answer 1

for everything that helps to
maintain and improve high standards of patient care’.12 It draws together a range of
quality and safety activities (such as incident monitoring, risk management, auditing,
morbidity and mortality meetings) in a way that ensures an organisational focus on the
development of a culture, systems and processes that promote quality of care as the
main focus of the organisation

Question 2

measurement of quality is facilitated

Answer 2

the use of standards, performance

indicators and outcome measures

Question 3

measurement of quality in healthcare varies

Answer 3

Population:
Organisation:
Individual:

Question 4

Population:

Answer 4

This level includes entire nations, or broad groups and communities
such as newborn babies or indigenous communities.

Question 5

Organisation:

Answer 5

: This level includes any organisation that provides healthcare, such as
a hospital, community health service or diagnostic imaging practice, to groups of
consumers.

Question 6

Individual

Answer 6

This level includes nurses, allied health professionals, medical
practitioners and anyone who provides healthcare interventions in partnership with
individual consumers, patients and carers.

Question 7

Population Measures

Answer 7

The first of the three domains, health
status, addresses policy on the general health of Australians
determinants of health, takes into account factors that influence the health status of Australians
The third
domain, health system performance, measures variables such as access to and equity of
service provision, safety and sustainability

Question 8

Organisational Measures

Answer 8

external accreditation/inspection against a set of recognised standards
internal audit against standards and policies
patient/consumer feedback
clinical and other performance indicators
incident and adverse event monitoring
patient health outcome measures

Question 9

Standards are developed for two primary reasons

Answer 9

to protect the public from harm;

to improve the quality of services

Question 10

Standards provide a framework

Answer 10

that identifies the boundaries and essential
elements for practice, and in doing so links three key professional practice
accountabilities: care, quality and competence

Question 11

Accreditation

Answer 11

is a mechanism whereby an external body assesses an organisation to
determine its performance and compliance with agreed standards

Question 12

Evidence-based Practice

Answer 12

deliberate use of current best research evidence in

making decisions about the care of individual patients.

Question 13

INDICATORS OF QUALITY

Answer 13

Clinical Indicators
Outcome Measures
Benchmarking

Question 14

Clinical Indicators

Answer 14

is simply a measure of the clinical management and/or outcome of
care. It is a quantitative measurement that can be compared over time or with other
services that use the same definition. Indicators provide a useful method of assessing
the quality and safety of care at a system level.

Question 15

Outcome Measures

Answer 15

realise that it is important to assess not only how healthcare is
delivered, but also to assess changes in clients’ condition as a result of these
interventions. The potential for those data to inform clinical decision making
underpins the increasing interest in valid outcome indicators of care

Question 16

Benchmarking

Answer 16

an improvement tool whereby a company measures its performance or
process against other companies’ best practices, determines how those
companies achieved their performance levels, and uses the information to
improve its own performance

Question 17

Benchmarking four stages

Answer 17

1. Choose a range of indicators or topic areas to look at and measure.
2. Compare your workplace to other similar workplaces, using these measures.
3. Identify your weaknesses and their strengths.
4. Learn from others how they achieve their results and how you can improve.

Question 18

Clinical risk management

Answer 18

the systematic approach to developing strategies that
enable healthcare organisations and clinicians to learn from past events in order to
minimise future risk.

Question 19

Incident Reporting

Answer 19

errors in health, and some will become
adverse events. Incidents are any failure of a planned or expected action to be
completed as intended.

Question 20

Risk Management

Answer 20

Incident analysis can lead to identification of specific systemic risks across an
organisation – for example, patient falls. Multiple incidents can indicate a systemic risk
that can be stratified using a risk assessment matrix to quantify the consequences and
likelihood of such incidents recurring

Question 21

CONSUMER PERSPECTIVES

Answer 21

consumer is more
frequently used today, as it implies agency, choice and voice in choosing and using
healthcare services

Question 22

Complaints

Answer 22

A quality improvement approach promotes the integration of complaints management
into a comprehensive quality program

Question 23

Consumer Surveys

Answer 23

Consumer satisfaction and experience surveys have frequently been used by clinicians,
facilities and government to provide a quality measure. Results are used to monitor
performance, identify trends, inform policy and service development, assess the
effectiveness of policies and programs, benchmark with similar health services and
identify opportunities for improvement

Question 24

Consumer Participation

Answer 24

is driven by a patient-centred care philosophy. Patient-centred
care is healthcare that is responsive to and respectful of the needs, values and rights of
consumers and carers.