Factors Involved in Comprehensive Patient Care Evaluation

Current activities in patient care evaluation may be criticized as follows: 1) Deficiencies tend to be identified only relative to the physician contribution to unsatisfactory outcomes; 2) Outcomes analyzed presently do not take into account possible preventive measures and how these problems affect the lives of others. A matrix is conceptualized which will direct attention to all of the factors which contribute to the quality of care. The matrix has properties which could lead to the application of statistical analysis in the area of patient care evaluation. Factors contributing to health care outcomes are to include: 1) the physician contributions, 2) the contribution of the hospital or health care facility, 3) the contribution of the patient himself, and 4) the contribution of the social and physical environment. A theoretical example is presented demonstrating the matrix for acute myocardial infarction. Case histories of inappropriate conclusions from other studies are given to illustrate the problems which may result from failure to consider the concepts presented above

MEDLINE · Political science · Cardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical Outcomes · Healthcare Quality and Management · Medicine · Nursing Roles and Practices

• The Staging Concept???An Approach to the Assessment of Outcome of Ambulatory Care

  Joseph S Gonnella, Daniel Z Louis et al.•Medical Care•1976

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• Evaluating the Quality of Medical Care

  Open Access•Avedis Donabedian•Milbank Quarterly•2005

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