ABSTRACT
The problem of patient safety has been repeatedly identified in the medical literature since the mid 1950s, but regular revelations about patient deaths and injuries resulting from treatment have had almost no effect on the actual practice of medicine. Only very recently has the medical profession made a systematic effort to reduce or eliminate the many preventable deaths and injuries that occur in hospitals each year. This review traces the diffusion of innovation in medical error reduction to the public shaming of the profession that occurred as a result of stories that appeared in the news media. The focus is on the USA, but news stories about patient safety are sparking a similar process throughout the western world.
Subject(s)
Health Priorities , Mass Media , Medical Errors/prevention & control , Safety Management , Diffusion of Innovation , Humans , Shame , United StatesABSTRACT
Another report from the Institute of Medicine in March 2001 has joined a large body of literature documenting serious quality and safety problems. Eight health care leaders discuss ways in which organizations can reduce medical errors and improve patient outcomes.
Subject(s)
Leadership , Medical Errors/prevention & control , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Social Responsibility , Attitude of Health Personnel , Chief Executive Officers, Hospital , Humans , Physicians/psychology , Power, Psychological , United StatesSubject(s)
Economics, Medical/standards , Ethics, Medical , Health Care Sector/standards , Models, Economic , Quality of Health Care/economics , Social Welfare/economics , Economic Competition , Economics, Medical/history , Health Care Sector/history , History, 20th Century , Insurance, Health , Physician-Patient Relations , Power, Psychological , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/economics , Quality of Health Care/trends , Social Responsibility , Social Welfare/history , United StatesABSTRACT
A health care analyst-writer explains the critical components for the health care purchasing system of tomorrow and lays out an action plan for effectively facing its challenges.
Subject(s)
Decision Making, Organizational , Health Benefit Plans, Employee/organization & administration , Data Collection , Health Benefit Plans, Employee/economics , Health Benefit Plans, Employee/statistics & numerical data , Insurance, Health/classification , Insurance, Health/statistics & numerical data , Planning Techniques , United StatesSubject(s)
Delivery of Health Care/trends , Managed Care Programs/trends , Cost Control , Fee-for-Service Plans , Health Care Reform/trends , Managed Care Programs/economics , Managed Care Programs/organization & administration , Prepaid Health Plans , Professional Autonomy , Social Responsibility , United StatesABSTRACT
For decades, health care has nursed a distrust of comparative clinical data. But what the market wants, it gets. Economics, technology, and the spirit of the times call for computer systems that measure quality.
Subject(s)
Diffusion of Innovation , Hospital Information Systems/trends , Medical Audit , Attitude to Computers , Hospital Information Systems/standards , Medical Audit/economics , Organizational Innovation , United StatesSubject(s)
Health Maintenance Organizations/history , Aged , Consumer Advocacy , Diagnosis-Related Groups , Financing, Government , Health Care Reform , Health Maintenance Organizations/economics , Health Maintenance Organizations/legislation & jurisprudence , History, 20th Century , Humans , Organizational Innovation , United StatesSubject(s)
Consumer Behavior , Health Maintenance Organizations/standards , Public Opinion , Community Health Planning , Health Care Sector , Health Maintenance Organizations/history , Health Maintenance Organizations/trends , History, 20th Century , Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations , Mass Media , Organizational Objectives , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Social Values , United StatesABSTRACT
The healthcare industry likes to talk about the need to earn a reasonable profit, but no one wants to nail down what constitutes a reasonable profit margin for a hospital, says Michael Millenson.
