Good Hospital Practice

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Advances in medical, biomedical and health services research have reduced the level of uncertainty in clinical practice. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) complement this progress by establishing standards of care backed by strong scientific evidence. CPGs are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. These statements are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and costs of alternative care options. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust examines the current state of clinical practice guidelines and how they can be improved to enhance healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Clinical practice guidelines now are ubiquitous in our healthcare system. The Guidelines International Network (GIN) database currently lists more than 3,700 guidelines from 39 countries. Developing guidelines presents a number of challenges including lack of transparent methodological practices, difficulty reconciling conflicting guidelines, and conflicts of interest. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust explores questions surrounding the quality of CPG development processes and the establishment of standards. It proposes eight standards for developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines emphasizing transparency; management of conflict of interest ; systematic review-guideline development intersection; establishing evidence foundations for and rating strength of guideline recommendations; articulation of recommendations; external review; and updating. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust shows how clinical practice guidelines can enhance clinician and patient decision-making by translating complex scientific research findings into recommendations for clinical practice that are relevant to the individual patient encounter, instead of implementing a one size fits all approach to patient care. This book contains information directly related to the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as well as various Congressional staff and policymakers. It is a vital resource for medical specialty societies, disease advocacy groups, health professionals, private and international organizations that develop or use clinical practice guidelines, consumers, clinicians, and payers.

The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

Written by leaders and experts in hospital and health-system practices and published by ASHP, the voice of the health-system pharmacy profession, Introduction to Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Practice is required reading for students and practitioners alike. It’s a comprehensive manual for institutional pharmacy: legal and regulatory issues, medication safety, informatics, and more. Straightforward definitions and clear explanations provide a basic foundation for on-the-job training in hospitals and health-systems. It’s the only introductory textbook available in institutional pharmacy practice.This practical guide offers a highly readable introduction to key areas of pharmacy practice, including: Managing medication use Managing medication distribution Using technology in health systems Budgeting & finance responsibilities Administering and prepping sterile products Managing people Training options for careers Each chapter presents learning objectives and answers the “so what?” so common among student questions. Chapter reviews, discussion guidelines, key word definitions and interactive exercises augment the learning process.Written by hospital pharmacists for future hospital pharmacists, it’s everything important you need to know from the name you trust.For additional product resources about this publication, visit www.ashp.org/pharmacypractice

The definitive guide to the knowledge and skills necessary to practice Hospital Medicine Presented in full color and enhanced by more than 700 illustrations, this authoritative text provides a background in all the important clinical, organizational, and administrative areas now required for the practice of hospital medicine. The goal of the book is provide trainees, junior and senior clinicians, and other professionals with a comprehensive resource that they can use to improve care processes and performance in the hospitals that serve their communities. Each chapter opens with boxed Key Clinical Questions that are addressed in the text and hundreds of tables encapsulate important information. Case studies demonstrate how to apply the concepts covered in the text directly to the hospitalized patient. Principles and Practice of Hospital Medicine is divided into six parts: Systems of Care: Introduces key issues in Hospital Medicine, patient safety, quality improvement, leadership and practice management, professionalism and medical ethics, medical legal issues and risk management, teaching and development. Medical Consultation and Co-Management: Reviews core tenets of medical consultation, preoperative assessment and management of post-operative medical problems. Clinical Problem-Solving in Hospital Medicine: Introduces principles of evidence-based medicine, quality of evidence, interpretation of diagnostic tests, systemic reviews and meta-analysis, and knowledge translations to clinical practice. Approach to the Patient at the Bedside: Details the diagnosis, testing, and initial management of common complaints that may either precipitate admission or arise during hospitalization. Hospitalist Skills: Covers the interpretation of common "low tech" tests that are routinely accessible on admission, how to optimize the use of radiology services, and the standardization of the execution of procedures routinely performed by some hospitalists. Clinical Conditions: Reflects the expanding scope of Hospital Medicine by including sections of Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Geriatrics, Neurology, Palliative Care, Pregnancy, Psychiatry and Addiction, and Wartime Medicine.

Inefficient and inappropriate discharges of patients from hospitals is a major problem for hospitals, social services and primary care. This clear and concise guide examines the reasons for difficulties of hospital discharge and considers the possible solutions. It provides a comprehensive overview of policy frameworks, practice issues and research findings, highlighting the range of problematic hospital discharges that can occur. Current health and social policies are evaluated, and typical individual, organisational and structural barriers are examined. It is invaluable for all those who have to make informed decisions regarding hospital discharge, including doctors, nursing managers and healthcare managers throughout primary and secondary care, as well as social care managers and staff, and policy makers and shapers.