Clinical quality improvement: Measuring and managing quality in rehabilitation medicine

In this paper clinical quality improvement, also referred to as total quality management, is described as a theoretical and methodological framework. Use of this approach is proposed and examined as a paradigm for quality of care measurement and management in rehabilitation medicine. While the field of rehabilitation has a long tradition in the area of outcomes measurement, in particular that of functional status assessment, the larger framework of clinical quality improvement offers a very promising and more complete framework for rehabilitation than those employed in the past. While the framework requires further testing and research, it has been useful in some areas of acute, as well as primary care. This paradigm is consistent with the approaches traditionally taken in measuring the quality of rehabilitation medicine. Recommendations are made for its application in rehabilitation medicine.