Reforming care for persons near the end of life: the promise of quality improvement.
Most people in developed countries will live with a serious, eventually fatal, chronic condition for months or years before dying; yet, the delivery of health care services has only just recently begun adapting to this reality. Quality improvement methods have been effective in helping clinical services to make substantial changes quickly. Quality improvement requires stating an aim, measuring success, and testing possible improvements. The testing of changes requires a clinical team to Plan, Do, Study, and Act on new insights (the "PDSA cycle"). Repeated PDSA cycles generate deep understanding of complex systems and make sustainable improvements rapidly. This paper discusses a composite case study in a nursing home setting, which builds on experience with multisite collaborative efforts and introduces quality improvement methods in the context of end-of-life care.
The Washington Center for Palliative Care Studies, 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA.
Joanne
J
Lynn
Kevin
K
Nolan
Andrea
A
Kabcenell
David
D
Weissman
Casey
C
Milne
Donald M
DM
Berwick
D016223:Advance Directives; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States