title: Toward a definition of quality.
abstract: In a mail questionnaire to members of the American College of Physician Executives, physician executives were asked to rank and weight the importance of nine elements of a quality definition for each of six clinical scenarios. The scenarios differed in terms of the severity of illness on admission and in terms of outcome. The study suggests that evaluations of quality that do not assess severity of illness may be misleading. The study also demonstrates that some agreement on the relative importance of indicators of quality can be reached.
mesh_terms: D002965:Classification; D006302:Health Services Research; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D008486:Physician Executives; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012107:Research Design; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States