Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T08:51:07.339Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Development of Indicators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2023

Michael D. Decker
Michael D. Decker*
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine and the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
*
Department of Epidemiology, Saint Thomas Hospital, 4220 Harding Road, Nashville, TN 37205
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The standards set by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (ICAHO) and published annually in the Accrediting Manual for Hospitals (AMH) define the framework within which most hospitals conduct their quality assurance (QA) and utilization review (UR) activities. The process known as “monitoring and evaluation,” reviewed here in May, forms a central component of many of these standards. The monitoring and evaluation process, in turn, depends on the identification of “clinical indicators.” The JCAHO has stated that a clinical indicator is “a quantitative measure that can be used as a guide to monitor and evaluate the quality of important patient care and support service activities. An indicator is not a direct measure of quality. Rather, it is a screen or flag that identifies or directs attention to specific performance issues that should be the subject of more intense review”.

Information

Type
Novel Applications for Hospital Epidemiology
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 12 , Issue 8 , August 1991, pp. 490 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References

1. 1991 Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.: The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions; 1990.Google Scholar
2. Characteristics of clinical indicators. Quality Review Bulletin. 1989;15:330–339.10.1016/S0097-5990(16)30313-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Donabedian, A. Evaluating the quality of medical care. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. 1966;44:166–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Donabedian, A. Explorations in Quality Assessment and Monitoring, Volume I: The Definition of Quality and Approaches to its Assessment. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Health Administration Press; 1980.Google Scholar
5. Donabedian, A. The quality of care: how can it be assessed? JAMA. 1988;260:1743–1748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Koska, MT. Pilot hospitals' input updates Agenda for Change . Hospitals. 1990:64 50–54.Google ScholarPubMed
7. Credé, WB, Hierholzer, WJ. Surveillance for quality assessment: III. The critical assessment of quality indicators. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1990;11:197–201.10.1086/646150CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Suggested Reading

1. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions. Primer on Indicator Development and Application. Chicago, Ill.: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions; 1990.Google Scholar
2. Fromberg, R The Joint Commission Guide to Quality Assurance. Chicago, Ill.: The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions; 1988.Google Scholar
3. Spath, PL, ed. Innovations in Health Care Quality Measurement. Chicago, Ill.: The American Hospital Association; 1989.Google Scholar