Quality Lines
STANDARDS OF CARE
Professionals are sometimes unaware of patients’ perceptions of their practices. A survey was conducted in five short stay hospitals in France. Twenty standards of care dealing with patient information were assessed by patients and health professionals, who rated statements regarding patient care by expressing agreement or disagreement. Overall, patients’ and professionals’ views on what was best or worst were similar, but some differences in the perception of care were also observed. For example, the common wisdom among many practitioners is that pain management is inadequate and requires more concern. However, patients were far more satisfied with this care than the professionals. Everyone agreed that consent was requested before surgery and that visitors were asked to leave the room before an examination, but patients felt that more attention should be paid to non-technical aspects of care, to information after discharge, and to help with psychosocial problems if high quality health care is to be achieved. See p198
PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT
Health care carries risk to patients. Some patients are harmed and …
