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Evaluating Critical Care

Using Health Services Research to Improve Quality

  • Book
  • © 2002

Overview

Editors:
  1. William J. Sibbald

    1. Critical Care, University of Toronto, Canada
      Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook and Women’s College, Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada

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  2. Julian F. Bion

    1. Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Update in Intensive Care Medicine (UICMSOFT)

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Table of contents (25 chapters)

  1. Techniques for Acquiring Information

    1. Assessment of Medical Devices

      • A. R. Webb
      Pages 244-254

    2. Health Informatics

      • M. Imhoff
      Pages 255-269

    3. Databases, Registries and Networks

      • J. L. Vincent, S. Brimioulle
      Pages 270-278

  2. Application and Interpretation: Using Data to Improve Outcomes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 279-279
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    2. Organizational Effects on Outcomes

      • J. B. Hall
      Pages 281-291

    3. Geographical Differences in Outcomes

      • L.G. G. Thijs
      Pages 292-308

    4. Disaggregating Data: From Groups to Individuals

      • J. Carlet, L. Montuclard, M. Garrouste-Orgeas
      Pages 309-320

    5. Driving Improvements: Quality Management in the ICU

      • A. Frutiger
      Pages 321-335

    6. Applied Health Services Research: Translating Evidence into Practice

      • G. Ellrodt
      Pages 336-356

    7. Translating the Evidence: Creating and Sustaining Change

      • W. J. Sibbald, G. K. Webster
      Pages 357-374

  3. Back Matter

    Pages 375-379
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Keywords

About this book

Measuring the quality of a complex service like critical care that combines the highest technology with the most intimate caring is a challenge. Recently, con­ sumers, clinicians, and payers have requested more formal assessments and comparisons of the quality and costs of medical care [2). Donabedian [1) pro­ posed a framework for thinking about the quality of medical care that separates quality into three components: structure, process, and outcome. An instructive analogy for understanding this framework is to imagine a food critic evaluating the quality of a restaurant. The critic might comment on the decoration and lighting ofthe restaurant, how close the tables are to each other, the extent ofthe wine list and where the chef trained. These are all evaluations of the restaurant structure. In addition, the critic might comment on whether the service was courteous and timely - measures of process. Finally, the critic might comment on outcomes like customer satisfaction or food poisoning. Similarly, to a health care critic, structure is the physical and human resources used to deliver medi­ cal care. Processes are the actual treatments offered to patients. Finally,outcomes are what happens to patients, for example, mortality, quality of life,and satisfac­ tion with care (Table 1). There is a debate about which of these measurements is the most important measure of quality.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Critical Care, University of Toronto, Canada

    William J. Sibbald

  • Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook and Women’s College, Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada

    William J. Sibbald

  • Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK

    Julian F. Bion

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Evaluating Critical Care

  • Book Subtitle: Using Health Services Research to Improve Quality

  • Editors: William J. Sibbald, Julian F. Bion

  • Series Title: Update in Intensive Care Medicine

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56719-3

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2002

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-540-67776-5Due: 14 September 2000

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-540-42606-6Published: 21 January 2002

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-56719-3Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 1610-4056

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 379

  • Topics: Intensive / Critical Care Medicine

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