Quality Assurance And An Automated Health Care Record

Abstract

Much space has been devoted in the recent literature to quality assurance standards. The primary reason for so much devotion to quality assurance information is that the federal government as well as other organizations involved in accrediting and/or approving health care agencies (Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO], National League for Nursing [NLN]) have begun to focus on outcome measures of patient care. When quality assurance standards were first discussed, the focus was on structure and process. Structure involved details about the organization itself, including its governance, mission, communication networks, resources, and delivery systems. Process involved the procedures used to carry out policies and for other transactions that took place to operationalize the delivery systems.