Benchmarking: A Tool for Excellence in Palliative Care

Abstract

Quietly and without fanfare, total quality management (TQM) is being implemented in a branch of health care where quality of care has particular impact on the patient's comfort and well-being. Some palliative care providers, dedicated to improving the quality of life for the dying, have fulfilled all the criteria to be contenders for prestigious quality honors like the Baldrige Award in the United States and the Canada Award for Excellence. Their secret is simple: the patient defines quality, and the palliative care team acts on that definition. Benchmarking, a TQM tool, allows institutions and organizations to benefit from sharing their best processes, and keeps the TQM continuous improvement cycle on track.

Benchmarking in health care: A review of the literature

“…The first of these themes is the use of staff. Human resources for the conduct of the project were utilised in a variety of modes, ranging from the formation of both small and large consortiums (Camp 1994;Compton, Robinson & O'Hara 1995;Ellis 1995;Fernsebner & Mathias 1995;Porter 1995) to the formation of study teams (Barnes, Lawton & Briggs 1994;Mosel & Gift 1994;Waixel & Laidlaw 1996) to the employment of consultants (Patterson 1993) to single-handed studies (Murray & Murray 1992).…”

Indicators of Quality Medical Care for the Terminally Ill in Nursing Homes

“…Performance indicators for QM, however, need to be better defined than in any of the articles or standards reviewed. This process depends on analysis of patient data regarding quality terminal care 23 ; hence, the process of indicator use in QM of nursing home patients is reviewed with emphasis on outcomes.…”

“…The final set of indicators, listed in Table 2, may be useful for medical directors and QM departments in long‐term care facilities within a program of QM 3,6–8,10,11,23 . They may also prove useful for clinicians, for they identify important aspects of medical care for dying patients in nursing homes.…”

Quality Improvement in Palliative Care Services and Networks: Preliminary Results of a Benchmarking Process in Catalonia, Spain

“…31 Also, there are more specific applications for palliative care. 32 These include the development of measuring tools or parameters, 33 the application of clinical tools, 34,35 or the comparison of models of palliative care services 13 such as academic hospitals for the care of terminal patients. 36 We proposed a preliminary benchmark process based on qualitative evaluation.…”