Measuring quality in long-term care: a 360-degree approach.
Policy makers and providers have taken steps to address quality concerns in acute and Long-term care (LTC); however, serious quality problems remain. Efforts to measure quality have focused primarily on technical quality, assessing whether certain healthcare outcomes are achieved. Advocates for a patient-centered approach urge a shift to an assessment of functional quality that would include an overall evaluation of the service encounter that is heavily reliant on input from the service recipient. This article provides a discussion of why measuring quality in LTC is more challenging. Because a more comprehensive approach to quality is warranted in LTC, recommendations are made for using a 360-degree approach.
Clark
Leigh Anne
LA
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, USA. laclark@siu.edu
D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000592:standards*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States