title: The objective impact of clinical peer review on hospital quality and safety.
abstract: Despite its importance, the objective impact of clinical peer review on the quality and safety of care has not been studied. Data from 296 acute care hospitals show that peer review program and related organizational factors can explain up to 18% of the variation in standardized measures of quality and patient safety. The majority of programs rely on an outmoded and dysfunctional process model. Adoption of best practices informed by the continuing study of peer review program effectiveness has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: QA to QI Consulting, 111 Hunter Drive, West Hartford, CT 06107, USA. marc@QAtoQI.com
authors.forename: Marc T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Edwards
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015279:Organizational Culture; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States