The importance of outcome measurement in quality assurance

Quality assurance in health care has been an evolutionary process, beginning thousands of years ago with expressions of concern about how to care for other human beings properly. Perhaps the most notable of these expressions were those recorded by Hippocrates in his discourses on medical ethics. In more recent times, we easily are able to trace the evolution of quality assurance beliefs from emphases placed first on structure, then on process, then on a combination of structure and process, to now when we see a gradual awakening to the importance of a third element, patient outcomes. Quality, in any endeavor, does not just happen. It is, rather, the result of trial and error, practice, and hard work. In short, it is the result of learning, and hand-in-hand with learning goes communicating. By taking patient outcomes into consideration, we create a feedback system, a communication process conducive to learning in that it effectively opens up the avenues joining the three elements of health care: (1) structure, (2) process, and (3) patient outcome. We live in an era of fast-paced change where time is a precious commodity; we cannot, especially in the health care industry, afford to waste it. In seeking to formulate a systematic approach to quality assurance, focusing on only one of the three components of health care identified to date would be foolish. Effective change is based on effective communication, and from years of experience, it is clear that the best approach to high quality assurance is one that takes all elements into account.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)