In message <[log in to unmask]>, Kjell
Saatvedt <[log in to unmask]> writes
>Dear list members
>>Thank you Peter for the questions on Quality assurance programmes which
>>looks very good.
>>
>>I think that some of the terms relateted to this topic have some different
>>meanings - I know we struggle a bit in Norway and mix some of them.
>>Can you please explain the meaning in this context of "standars" - I assume
>>it is not the same as guidelines?
>>
Dear Gro
I am very grateful for your question, as it is very important that
quality assurance workshop is understandable to an international
audience. I think the terms guideline, criterion and standard are
easily confused. I would be very grateful for anyone else's opinion.
Where there are other problems
My understanding of the terms are as follows:
Guidelines
· A guideline is a systematically developed statement to assist
practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for
specific clinical circumstances
Criteria
· A criterion is a measurable item of care or some aspect of the
practice that can be used to assess quality
· Each criterion should be recorded in a statement, for example:
'Eligible women between the ages of 25 and 65 should have a cervical
smear every five years'.
Standards
· A standard is a statement of the proportion of occasions or patients
which must fulfil each criterion.
· Each criterion should have a standard attached to it in order to make
it measurable, for example, the criterion for cervical smears might have
the following standard:
'80% of women between the ages of 25 and 65 should have had a cervical
smear within the last five years'
>>Another question you might add to your list might be a question of who the
>>person/s that are doing the work are? (a group, experts, consumers ...)
Yes, that is another good point. Presumably, who will benefit from the
work also!!
>>
Peter
>
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Peter Bradley
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