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Assessing nursing home care quality through Bayesian networks

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Abstract

This article demonstrates how Bayesian networks can be employed as a tool to assess the quality of care in nursing homes. For the data sets analyzed, the proposed model performs comparably to existing quantitative assessment models. In addition, a Bayesian network approach offers several uniques advantages. The structure and parameters of a Bayesian network provide rich insight into the multidimensional aspects of the quality of care. Bayesian networks can be used as a guide in implementing limited resources by identifying information that would be most relevant to an assessment. Finally, Bayesian networks provide a straightforward framework for integrating nursing home care quality research that is conducted in various locations and for various purposes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the University of Missouri-Columbia MDS and Nursing Home Quality Research Team. Research activities were partially supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) 1R01NR/AG05287-01A2. Opinions are those of the authors and do not represent NINR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Sciences, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Justin Goodson

  2. Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, University of Missouri—Columbia, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Wooseung Jang

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  1. Justin Goodson
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  2. Wooseung Jang
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Correspondence to Wooseung Jang.

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Goodson, J., Jang, W. Assessing nursing home care quality through Bayesian networks. Health Care Manage Sci 11, 382–392 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-008-9063-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-008-9063-x

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