Difference between revisions of "Quality informatics"

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Revision as of 05:26, 8 September 2014

Quality informatics is the study of use of information in understanding and improving the quality and safety of health care. It seeks to measure the quality of health care.

Introduction

Many information systems do not involve computers or software at each step. Rather, techniques of approaching quality related issues involve a structured, thoughtful approach where

  • purpose is defined and problems are diagnosed and modeled;
  • metrics for understanding both the problem and success are defined;
  • an intervention is devised and implemented;
  • an evaluation is completed; and
  • the cycle repeats.

The system defined by these steps is called Quality Improvement, and there are a set of informatics-related needs at each step and for the process overall.

Many people focus on the informatics aspects of the metrics and the intervention, but each step requires consideration of the information system used.

Major topics in Quality Informatics

Instututions

Examples

As part of this wiki, we have a set of quality improvement project examples.

For students of BMI 537, please see BMI537 template for an example project. Add yours to this text.

Metrics

written by Donabedian, A. 1980, Seven Pillars of Quality

  • Efficacy: the ability of care, at its best, to improve health;
  • Effectiveness: the degree to which attainable health improvements are realized;
  • Efficiency: the ability to obtain the greatest health improvement at the lowest cost;
  • Optimality: the most advantageous balancing of costs and benefits;
  • Acceptability: conformity to patient preferences regarding accessibility, the patient-practitioner relation, the amenities, the effects of care, and the cost of care;
  • Legitimacy: conformity to social preferences concerning all of the above; and
  • Equity: fairness in the distribution of care and its effects on health. (Donabedian, 1990)

In a similar fashion, Maxwell defined the six dimensions of quality health care:

  1. Access to services
  2. Relevance to need (for the whole community)
  3. Effectiveness (for individual patients)
  4. Equity (fairness)
  5. Social Acceptability
  6. Efficiency and Economy (Maxwell, 1984)


One of the most widely accepted definitions of quality healthcare was offered by the Institute of Medicine in their 2001 “Crossing the Quality Chasm” report (IOM, 2001). They outlined six dimensions of healthcare quality:

  • Safe: Patients should not be harmed by the care that is intended to help them, nor should harm come to those who work in health care.
  • Effective: Integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values, avoiding under-use of effective care, and over-use of ineffective care.
  • Efficient: Care should be given without wasting equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.
  • Timely: Waiting times should be continually reduced for both patients and those who give care. In addition to emotional distress from long waits, physical harm may result, for example, from a delay in diagnosis or treatment that results in preventable complications.
  • Patient-Centered: Encompasses qualities of compassion, empathy, and responsiveness to the needs, values, and expressed preferences of the individual patient.
  • Equitable: Care should not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socio-economic status.

With multiple dimensions and attributes ascribed to quality health care, it is of note that physicians themselves tended to judge the quality of care on the basis of the technical sophistication of the health care delivered, and placed an emphasis on the quality of the interaction between the physician and the patient.(Blumenthal, 1996)

Measuring Structure, Process, Outcomes

The many descriptions and factors involved in producing quality health care makes it difficult to determine which of these attributes or characteristics should be assessed. A seemingly natural candidate for measurement would be treatment outcomes. After all, outcomes are usually not debatable when considering whether a patient lived or died, recovered, or remained impaired. Because outcomes are rarely subject to interpretation, measurement of outcomes is considered to be desirable. (Donabedian, 1966)

However, there are limitations to studying treatment outcomes. The application of medical science to a problem may or may not result in the best outcome for that patient. A patient may not receive all of the benefits that were anticipated for a treatment. In addition, measuring the patient as being among the survivors for a given condition can lead to faulty assumptions if the person survived, but was otherwise severely impaired. The measurement of the outcome of survival alone would not produce reliable information. (Donabedian, 1966)

Some treatment outcomes take years to come to fruition, which may not be taken into account at the time that the quality assessments are being made. Multiple non-medical factors may also influence outcome. When assessing outcomes it is necessary to make sure that the non-medical impacts are accounted for, holding as many external variables constant as possible. (Donabedian, 1966)

Donabedian did believe that outcomes were the most effective measures of the quality of medical care, but he also focused on the process of delivering medical care. The more subjective measures of process involve the interaction between the health care provider and the patient. Judgments are made as to the quality of the history, physical exam, the differential diagnosis, the treatments ordered, as well as technical competence in procedural activities, such as surgery. Measuring these processes are difficult and more subjective than outcome measurement, but processes are important because they indicate whether or not quality medicine is being practiced.

While Donabedian focused primarily on outcomes and processes, the setting in which health care was delivered was also an obvious component of the delivery of quality health care. Measurement of the facilities, the qualifications and numbers of the staff, the presence or absence of certain equipment, and even hospital administration was combined into what Donabedian called the "assessment of structure". The problem is that it does not automatically follow that having good facilities and staffing results in high quality health care, nor does the absence of certain equipment indicate that health care is not of high quality. However, the measurements of structure involve factors that are more tangible and concrete than processes, and can be more easily evaluated.


References

  1. American Medical Association, Council of Medical Service. Quality of care. JAMA 1986;256:1032-1034.
  2. Blumenthal, D. (1996). "Quality of Care--What is It?-Part One of Six." New England Journal of Medicine 335(12): 891.
  3. Donabedian A. Explorations in quality assessment and monitoring. Vol. The definition of quality and approaches to its assessment. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Health Administration Press, 1980.
  4. Donabedian, A. (1966). "Evaluating the quality of medical care." The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 44(3): 166-20
  5. Donabedian, A. (1969). "Quality of care: problems of measurement. II. Some issues in evaluating the quality of nursing care." American Journal of Public Health 59(10): 1833.
  6. Donabedian, A. (1990). "The seven pillars of quality." Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine 114(11): 1115.
  7. Institute of Medicine. (2001). "Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century."
  8. Larson, J. S. and A. Muller (2002). Managing the Quality of Health Care. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, Southern Public Administration Education Foundation. 25: 261-280.
  9. Lohr KN, ed. Medicare: a strategy for quality assurance. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1990. Maxwell, R. (1984). "Quality assessment in health." British Medical Journal 288(6428): 1470-1.
  10. Maxwell, R. (1984). "Quality assessment in health." British Medical Journal 288(6428): 1470-1.

Submitted by William Hogg