Mejora de la calidad asistencial. I. Definiciones y ciclo de evaluación y mejora

Resumo

This paper defines several aspects of quality of health care and the evaluation and the technique of improvement cycle. The elements are discussed in terms of the structure of the health care system, the processes of care, and outcomes resulting from care. Growing demand for health care, rising costs, constrained resources, and evidence of variations in clinical practice have increased interest in measuring and improving the quality of health care in many countries of the world. There has been a move away from assessing costs and activity to assessing quality with an emphasis on both efficient use of resources and on the effectiveness of health care. The evaluation and improvement cycle is an iterative six-step management method used in business technology for the control and continual improvement of processes and products which have demonstrated its applicability in quality health improvement.