I think a lot about health care quality, what it is, how you know it when you see it and how you measure it. I am in part inclined to think like this because my background is in educational research. But I have also been quite inspired by the writing of Atul Awande and loved Complications, Better, and Checklist Manifesto.
So what do we mean when we talk about the quality of health care?
There are as many definitions for health care quality as there are people and organizations trying to define it. Healthcare “quality” can encompass many things but often refer to three areas: availability of care, the patient’s experience when receiving the care and, the outcome of the care received. For example, the Institute of Medicine defines quality as “The degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge.”
