title: Assessing the quality of care in a hospice program.
abstract: As the hospice movement comes of age, it must be as accountable for the quality of its services as other health care delivery systems. To this end, the Hospice Program of the Butler County (Pennsylvania) Visiting Nurses Association has begun a more systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating the quality and appropriateness of patient care. The agency's quality assurance (QA) committee used specific indicators and criteria for assessing the appropriateness of its services over a year. The process enabled agency staff to gain experience with QA activities and provided the basis for a more comprehensive program.
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing; D006699:Home Care Services; D006738:Hospices / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011787:Quality of Health Care