Question

How can data provide information to evaluate quality patient outcomes

Answer 1

The aims of healthcare sectors are improving patient experience, improving health of the public and reducing costs. The data of the outcome of care such as mortality, readmission, patient experiences are the targets of the healthcare organizations. It helps to improve the outcome of the healthcare industry.

The goals of data in healthcare are:

• Improves patient care
• Improves the experiences of patients
• Reduces the cost spent on health
• Improves the health of the general population
• Reveals areas where improvisation is needed
• Identifies variations in care
• Provide evidences of the interventions that work best
• Compare the effectiveness of various treatments and procedures.

These data gives awareness to the organization whether the changes they have made will lead to positive outcomes. Some of the data that are collected to evaluate the quality of patient outcomes are as follows.

Mortality: the mortality rate shows the health outcome of a population. By knowing the rate we can improve the care, reduce the cost of treatment and improve the experiences of the patient and thus it will reduced the mortality.

Readmissions: Readmissions after hospitalization shows how effectively the care was given. It burdens the patient financially. By improving the care, follow-up visits and communication with the patient the readmission rates can be reduced.

Safety of care: This data shows the medical mistakes. For example skin breakdown and hospital acquired infections. By collecting data of the vulnerable group and prevention of errors can improve the quality of care.

Patient experience: The most reliable form of data is the experiences of the patient and the perception of the health care. It helps to evaluate the patients’ satisfaction and provide real-time information for improvement and provide more rapid response to the issues.

Effectiveness of care: It is done by monitoring the outcome of the treatment and thus it will alert the healthcare workers.

Timeliness of care: It is a data to assess the access of the patient to the care.

Efficient use of medical imaging: This data provides information regarding the use of medical imaging as it contributes to improve the patient outcome and reduce the cost in major diseases.

Health systems measure outcomes to ensure they’re delivering the best care. Making sure patients receive the best care at the right time at the lowest cost so they can return to a steady, normal state.