Study shows hospitals making headway on quality, with a long way to go
A study conducted by the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) has found hospitals have made strides in improving quality of care over the past two years, with they still have a long way to go.
The study was based on results from 470 hospital chief quality officers nationwide.
More than a third of the CQOs said patient care is either above or well above their expectations, and 87 percent said it's better or much better than it was three years ago. Sixty-eight percent even said they would be trust a member of their family to be treated at their hospital without being present to monitor care. However, only 28 percent agreed or strongly agreed that patient satisfaction is at the level where it should be.
Ninety-three percent of surveyed CQOs said quality improvement is on their hospital's strategic business plan. The top methods of quality improvement used included:
- Prevention of surgical site infections (81 percent);
- Prevention of central line infections (72 percent);
- Prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (72 percent);
- Prevention of adverse drug events (70 percent);
- Medication reconciliation (62 percent);
- Standing orders (52 percent); and
- Disease- or condition-specific QI projects (50 percent).
Despite the optimism of CQOs in the HRET study, a July release of the 2008 National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance said America's health system continues to fall short of its healthcare goals regardless of resources invested.
The scorecard, which was prepared by the Commonwealth Fund Commission, found that across 37 core indicators of performance, the United States scored a 65 out of a possible 100 when comparing national averages with U.S. and international and performance benchmarks.
How do you think U.S. hospitals can best improve quality of care? Send your thoughts to Senior Editor Diana Manos at diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com.
