Measuring quality: inspection or opportunity?

This article has attempted to provide a different way of looking at the quality of health care and its measurement. How well quality is measured is based on beliefs about health, the provider-client relationship, and the health care system. In the end, quality really depends on the human spirit itself and how individuals treat themselves and others. Without a personal commitment to quality and respect for one's self and others, there is no means to achieve quality. There never will be sufficient financial resources, organizational artifice, or measurable standards to safeguard quality any other way. Each of us must care enough to make this happen--for ourselves, for our patients, and for our profession.