title: Peer review among rural clinics.
abstract: One goal of nursing has always been to improve the quality of health care. This goal has resulted in myriad attempts to evaluate both nurses and nursing care, determine outcomes and goals, establish criteria, and develop measurement tools. Since Derryberry first documented the evaluation of nursing care in 1939, evaluations have focused on the provider, the consumer, the outcomes, and the process of providing care; but all have had as their central purpose the benefit of the client through the improvement of health care. The importance of quality assurance is reflected not only in nursing literature, but also in the recent development of PSROs, Medicaid/Medicare regulations, certification, and mandatory continuing education for health professionals. At the 1978 American Nurses' Association Convention, the House of Delegates pledged "to work aggressively on improving the quality of health care, and that of nursing care in particular, through peer review."
mesh_terms: D003151:Community Health Centers; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards; D010380:Peer Review; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011996:Records; D012423:Rural Health; D013714:Tennessee