Content Description

“Across various health professions and medical specialties, a new focus on ensuring that race, ethnicity, gender, geography, and socioeconomic status do not affect the quality of care has emerged. To ensure that this focus remains, and this momentum continues, we need to firmly embed a new dual axiom: there is no quality without equity, and there is no equity without quality.”— Kedar Mate, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, from the Foreword to the fourth edition. Fundamentals of Health Care Improvement: A Guide to Improving Your Patient’s Care, 4th edition, is intended to help health professional learners diagnose, measure, analyze, change, and lead improvements in health care, with the aim to shape reliable, high-quality systems of care in partnership with patients. Copublished by Joint Commission Resources and the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, this fourth edition includes updated resources, including examples, figures, tables, and tools. New to this edition is a focus on health equity and disparities of care brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic. This focus explores the relationship between social determinants of health and how improvement methods and skills can help identify and close disparity gaps in systems of care. Also new to this edition is an expanded discussion of effective teamwork and the importance of creating multidisciplinary health care teams that partner with patients and families. Key Topics in the 4th edition Identifying gaps in quality and working in teams to close those gaps Finding scientific evidence for clinical improvement Identifying a focus for improvement Understanding process literacy, culture, content, and systems in health care Analyzing data for decision making Using measurement tools to gain insight Understanding and implementing change Spreading and sustaining the improvement Publishing and presenting the improvement Using Improvement tools Key Features Clinical problem-solving and teamwork vignettes Chapter objectives and study questions to assess learning Comparisons between types of measurement tools and ideas for practical applications Updated SQUIRE publishing guidelines and presentation strategies Downloadable tools, worksheets, and resources Settings: Applicable to all health care settings, but most applicable to the hospital setting Key Audience Nursing and medical students Resident physicians Health professional educators Nursing and medical leadership

About Joint Commission

The mission of The Joint Commission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. Its vision is that all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings.