QUALITY ASSESSMENT UNIT
The Quality Assessment (QA) unit at St. Mary's Hospital began operations in April, 1999. The QA unit is one of three units in the Hospital's Quality Management program, the other two being the Clinical Quality Improvement unit and the Support Services Quality Management unit. All three units are coordinated through the Quality Management Coordinating Committee.
Quality assessment is viewed as an important type of research activity at St. Mary's; QA and other Hospital research are coordinated through the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies (DCECS). DCECS staff consult on QA projects, and provide technical support, as needed.
MANDATE
The QA Unit provides support to Hospital teams concerned with quality, including those representing Clinical Programs, Councils, and Support Services.
The current mandate of the QA Unit is two-fold :
- to support teams with the design, data collection, analysis, and presentation of QA studies;
- to maintain the database and provide reports on incident and accident reports submitted by hospital staff.
STAFF
The Quality Assessment Unit is headed by the Head of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies (DCECS), and consists of two Quality Analysts.
ACTIVITIES
Assistance With
Projects
The QA unit is asked to assist with between 15 -25 projects per year.
Examples of the types of projects undertaken include:
- staff surveys (recent surveys were conducted of nursing and multidisciplinary staff to assess perceptions of the work environment and quality of care, using instruments from an international study of nurses' work environments)
- patient satisfaction surveys (including development of a set of common questions)
- use of Hospital administrative databases to study utilization of services
- chart audits
Incident / Accident Reporting
All incident / accident reports received by Quality Management are input into an in-house database. A quality analyst supervises the data entry and produces reports on an annual and quarterly basis for all hospital programs. Reports are also produced upon special request.
Annual Symposia on Research and Quality of Care
Since 2000, Annual Symposia on Research and Quality of Care have been held each fall.
Symposia have included:
- invited speakers, panels, and debates on topics such as the role of the pharmaceutical industry in research, and how to use research to improve the quality of care;
- 20 - 30 poster presentations.
