Building measurement and data collection into medical practice

Title

Building measurement and data collection into medical practice

Creator

Nelson EC; Splaine ME; Batalden PB; Plume SK

Publisher

Annals Of Internal Medicine

Date

1998

Subject

Humans; Data Collection; Physician's Role; Clinical Protocols; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care); patient care team; RDF Project; Diabetes Mellitus; Cost Control; Practice Management; Medical/standards; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; Type 2/therapy; Urinary Tract Infections/therapy

Description

Clinicians can use data to improve daily clinical practice. This paper offers eight principles for using data to support improvement in busy clinical settings: 1) seek usefulness, not perfection, in the measurement; 2) use a balanced set of process, outcome, and cost measures; 3) keep measurement simple (think big, but start small); 4) use qualitative and quantitative data; 5) write down the operational definitions of measures; 6) measure small, representative samples; 7) build measurement into daily work; and 8) develop a measurement team. The following approaches to using data for improvement are recommended. First, begin with curiosity about outcomes or a need to improve results. Second, try to avoid knee-jerk, obstructive criticism of proposed measurements. Instead, propose solutions that are practical, goal-oriented, and good enough to start with. Third, gather baseline data on a small sample and check the findings. Fourth, try to change and improve the delivery process while gathering data. Fifth, plot results over time and analyze them by using a control chart or other graphical method. Sixth, refine your understanding of variation in processes and outcomes by dividing patients into clinically homogeneous subgroups (stratification) and analyzing the results separately for each subgroup. Finally, make further changes while measuring key outcomes over time. Measurement and improvement are intertwined; it is impossible to make improvements without measurement. Measuring and learning from each patient and using the information gleaned to test improvements can become part of daily medical practice in local settings.
1998

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Nelson EC; Splaine ME; Batalden PB; Plume SK, “Building measurement and data collection into medical practice,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 28, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/11740.