This study aimed at developing integrated clinical performance indicators(CPIs) through the analysis of quality improvement(QI) activities of a hospital and literature review about performance measures.
The CPIs were developed through the following three stages; 1)Identifying preliminary CPIs 2)A staff validity test in preliminary CPIs 3)Developing final CPIs.
One hundred twenty-three preliminary CPIs were developed through QI activities of the target hospital for 8 years and literature review. The results of the validity test for the preliminary CPIs supported ninety-one items. Sixty-two CPIs were selected through integration, reclassification and renaming. Then, eighteen items were deleted on account of an imprecise calculation method. Finally, forty-four CPIs were confirmed. They consisted of twenty-six items at the hospital level and eighteen items at the department level.
CPIs can be used as criteria to evaluate the performance of healthcare organizations, and to decide the quality of healthcare for customers. This study may contribute to establishing an integrated system between QI activities and performance measurement of healthcare organizations.
The purpose of this study was to compare the nursing activities delineated by interview of nurses with those on nursing notes.
The participants of interview were 18 nurses working in medical and surgical units of a large hospital in Seoul. Each nurse was asked to choose one patient who demand most nursing care among her patients. The nurse was then interviewed to describe what her nursing activities for the patient was that day. The audio-taped interview was transcribed and the content was analyzed by researchers. Nursing notes of each nurses' patients were copied and the content analyzed by researchers. Finally, themes from the interview data and those from nursing notes were compared.
Activities related to emotional or psychological nursing, education for patient and families, and problem solving related to treatment or nursing procedure were most often omitted in nursing notes. Most of the documentation in nursing notes were related to physical condition of patients or physician's orders. Nurses described that they will do better recording if they were given less patient care responsibility, had better nursing knowledge, had better recording system, and received more training on nursing record.
Nursing notes did not reflect nursing activities properly. Few independent nursing roles were documented in the nursing notes. Development of nursing education program and nursing record system is needed for improvement of nursing record.
This study was conducted to investigate the degree of dry mouth and oral health-related quality of life and to identify factors contributing to oral health-related quality of life for community-dwelling elders.
A descriptive correlational study design was used. Participants were 156 older adults from two senior welfare centers. Data were collected on February 21, 22 and 29, 30, 2009 using structured questionnaires. Enter type multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing oral health-related quality of life according to general and oral health characteristics.
There were significant differences in oral health-related quality of life according to living arrangement, insurance, smoking, number of natural teeth, and denture type. The oral health-related quality of life had significant correlations with the number of chronic disease, number of medications, and dry mouth. Factors influencing oral health-related quality of life for community-dwelling older adults were dry mouth, number of chronic disease, and medical aid, which explained about 47.9% of total variance.
These results indicate that in order to promote oral health-related quality of life for older adults, prevention or management of chronic diseases as well as oral health and dry mouth are needed for this population, and especially economically poor elders.