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Erschienen in:
01.04.2019 | Minisymposium: Quality and safety
Quality and safety in pediatric radiology
Erschienen in: Pediatric Radiology | Ausgabe 4/2019
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Quality and safety. Perhaps there are two no more important words related to the practice of pediatric radiology. According to Merriam-Webster, quality is defined as possessing a degree of excellence or being superior in kind [1]. As pediatric radiologists caring for a vulnerable patient population, we should continuously strive to provide health care that is not just excellent, but consistently excellent. It is both excellence and consistency that now define quality in health care. To achieve consistent excellence, we must expand our view of quality beyond the relatively simple definitions used in the past. Specifically, the Institute of Medicine has defined six domains of health care quality that we should constantly aim to improve [2]. Health care should be:-
Safe — avoiding injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them.
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Effective — providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit (avoiding underuse and overuse).
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Patient-centered — providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.
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Timely — reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care.
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Efficient — avoiding waste, in particular waste of equipment, supplies, ideas and energy.
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Equitable — providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location or socioeconomic status.