Abstract
Too often quality indicators (volume, outcomes, and others) are unilaterally used by decision-makers but not by professionals, while other analytical tools (audit, root cause analysis, mortality, morbidity, etc.) are not considered. This paper aims to explain an improvement methodology that focuses on combining quality indicators and risk management as components of clinical governance. The proposed approach allows for a better management of the volume-outcome relation in support of continuous improvement. Based on 5 years’ experience from the Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, we found that the combination of the two approaches led to an improved healthcare delivery, with a decrease in in-hospital elective surgery mortality, despite the steady increase in admissions. However, to obtain such results there are some necessary conditions to consider from both an organizational and technological point of view.
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Albini, M., Meroni, P., Montorsi, M. (2021). Combining Risk Management and Real Time Indicator Monitoring for Continuous Improvement. In: Montorsi, M. (eds) Volume-Outcome Relationship in Oncological Surgery. Updates in Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51806-6_13
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