Practice guidelines and quality: is there a connection?
Yes! Practice guidelines are clearly connected to quality. To characterize that connection adequately, however, is a more formidable task and is the subject of this paper. This paper will capture, in a few words, the essence of my perspective and experience related to quality issues and then attempt to establish a connection between practice guidelines and quality from two perspectives: first, by suggesting a series of assumptions that would lead to a decision on what should be the focus of an appropriate guideline for an older adult, since there are many possibilities and agreeing on assumptions is a logical first step; and second, by suggesting a framework for the content of such guidelines.
VanOstenberg
P R
PR
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, USA.
D000368:Aged; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000592:standards*; D005850:Geriatric Dentistry / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*