title: Navigating in the turbulent sea of data: the quality measurement journey.
abstract: This article provides a roadmap for your quality measurement journey. It begins with a discussion of 3 approaches to measurement (improvement, accountability and research) and challenges readers to be clear about why they are measuring. Key milestones along the quality measurement journey are then presented and a framework for selecting measures, developing clear operational definitions, building data collection plans, and understanding the variation that exists in data is outlined. The article ends with a discussion of why data need to be linked to improvement strategies.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 20 University Road, 7th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. rlloyd@IHI.org
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Lloyd
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009359:Neonatology / Q000592:standards*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care