QUALITY ASSURANCE &
RISK MANAGEMENT

By
Dr. Cynthia Chong

Dr. Chong will be giving a lecture.
Please read through the following articles before it.
They are from a series done by the New England Journal of Medicine on
Quality of Care.

Articles

PART 1: QUALITY OF CARE
— WHAT IS IT?

PART 2: MEASURING QUALITY
OF CARE

PART 3: IMPROVING THE QUALITY
OF CARE

PART 4: THE ORIGINS
OF THE QUALITY–OF–CARE DEBATE

PART 5: PAYMENT BY CAPITATION
AND THE QUALITY OF CARE

PART 6: THE ROLE
OF PHYSICIANS IN THE FUTURE OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Boards-type Practice Questions 

(scroll
down for answers)

1.
Risk management activities are designed to:

a.       Weed
out residents from promotion

b.       Promote
a minimum standard of care

 
c.       Alert
regulatory agencies to poorly managed admissions

 
d.       Regulate
physicians applying for relicensing

 
e.       Provide
information for patients suing for malpractice

2.
An example of an error of omission would be:

 
a.       No
admission note

 
b.       No
death note

 
c.       No
EKG ordered for patient with chest pain and tachycardia

 
d.       Procedure
performed by uncredentialed individual

 
e.       No
urology consultation within 24 hours of request

 3.
An error of commission would be:

 
a.       Pneumothorax
after placing an IJ line

 
b.       Calling
a 1-2-6 when a patient is without respirations or pulse

 
c.       Discharging
a patient AMA

 
d.       Ordering
ampicillin for patient with known penicillin allergy

 
e.       Ordering
subcutaneous heparin for a bed bound patient

 4.
Patients/families most often litigate when there is:

 
a.       A
billing problem

 
b.       An
erroneous test ordered

 
c.       Poor
provider-patient/family communication

 
d.       Poor
documentation

 
e.       A
perception that the physician is wealthy

Answers:
b,c,d, c