Home health audit tool--at last!

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Administration
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Existing audit tools were not suitable for home health nursing.
• A need existed for an audit tool tailored to home health care specifics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new audit tool specifically for home health nursing.
• To create an instrument that accurately reflects the unique aspects of home health care quality.

Main Methods:

• Review of 50 existing audit tools.
• Adaptation and redesign of the Phaneuf public health nursing audit.
• Testing the redesigned tool through two quarterly audits.

Main Results:

• The redesigned Missoula Home Health Audit tool was found to be highly satisfactory.
• The new tool emphasizes key home health areas: independent living, provider-patient relationships, nurse-physician collaboration, charting, and care coordination.
• The audit demonstrates specificity to home health nursing, comprehensive service coverage, and sensitive scoring for quality assessment.

Conclusions:

• The Missoula Home Health Audit is a specialized and effective tool for evaluating home health nursing quality.
• The tool's focus on unique home health elements and sensitive scoring improves the accuracy of quality assessment.
• The developed audit tool appears consistent and reliable for ongoing quality monitoring in home health settings.