McDonald, T. A., 2008
ICN CONFERENCE, Yokohama, Japan
ABSTRACT
Background: The urgency of transferring knowledge on clinical outcomes discovered through quality audits of practice can be estimated in terms of human misery arising from less than optimal clinical and management practices. Quality indicators developed by professionals and managers of care services can ensure that clinical outcome trends are positive and remain so. For vulnerable groups professional use of quality outcomes information ensures ongoing successful provision of aged care services to people dependent upon them for skill and information.
Objective: To examine improvements noted across the aged care industry in Australia in relation to links between achievement of quality in key areas of care, and access by nurses to useful feedback on clinical performance
Methods and Results: A review of strategies used in aged care to access quality outcome information and its transfer to organisational policies and services in a way that reinforces good practice and prompts revision of unproductive practices, will be presented and discussed. The review incorporates insights gained by providing telephone help-line advice to service providers across Australia.
Conclusions: The aged care industry in Australia and elsewhere is driven towards management outcomes associated with quality audits and performance benchmarking which are often filtered through cost-benefit analyses linked to management priorities aligned with regulatory compliance. The fragility of clients of aged care services accentuates the need for accurate, useful and timely feedback on quality performance in key care and clinical governance areas across a range of aged care services.
CITATION McDonald T. (2007) The relief of misery: Transfer of quality outcomes information to real-world practice, Paper presentation, International Council of Nurses Conference, Yokohama, Japan, May-June.
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