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Healthcare Quality: A Concept Analysis
- Source :
- Nursing Forum. 52:377-386
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Hindawi Limited, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Worsening quality indicators of health care shake public trust. Although safety and quality of care in hospitals can be improved, healthcare quality remains conceptually and operationally vague. Therefore, the aim of this analysis is to clarify the concept of healthcare quality. Walker and Avant’s method of concept analysis, the most commonly used in nursing literature, provided the framework. We searched general and medical dictionaries, public domain websites, and 5 academic literature databases. Search terms included health care and quality, as well as healthcare and quality. Peer-reviewed articles and government publications published in English from 2004 to 2016 were included. Exclusion criteria were related concepts, discussions about the need for quality care, gray literature, and conference proceedings. Similar attributes were grouped into themes during analysis. Forty-two relevant articles were analyzed after excluding duplicates and those that did not meet eligibility. Following thematic analysis, 4 defining attributes were identified: (1) effective, (2) safe, (3) culture of excellence, and (4) desired outcomes. Based on these attributes, the definition of healthcare quality is the assessment and provision of effective and safe care, reflected in a culture of excellence, resulting in the attainment of optimal or desired health. This analysis proposes a conceptualization of healthcare quality that defines its implied foundational components and has potential to improve the provision of quality care. Theoretical and practice implications presented promote a fuller, more consistent understanding of the components that are necessary to improve the provision of healthcare and steady public trust.
- Subjects :
- Nursing literature
Government
Teamwork
Knowledge management
business.industry
Concept Formation
030503 health policy & services
media_common.quotation_subject
Article
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Excellence
Health care
Public trust
Humans
Quality (business)
030212 general & internal medicine
Thematic analysis
0305 other medical science
business
Psychology
General Nursing
Quality Indicators, Health Care
Quality of Health Care
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00296473
- Volume :
- 52
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nursing Forum
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....27650c0ecc3eea7d1499c2ad6971d766