Quality Assurance and Improvement Flashcards
7 cards from real ABFM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Quality Assurance and Improvement flashcards as text
A practice implements team-based care huddles before each session to review the day's patients. This intervention most directly targets which Institute of Medicine quality domain?
Answer: Efficient
Pre-visit huddles reduce wasted time, duplicate effort, and unnecessary steps, most directly addressing efficiency in care delivery.
A physician notes that Hispanic patients in her panel have significantly lower colorectal cancer screening rates than White patients. Addressing this gap falls under which IOM quality domain?
Answer: Equitable
Equity requires providing care that does not vary in quality based on personal characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status.
Which of the following best describes the concept of 'high reliability' as applied to healthcare organizations?
Answer: Consistently preventing catastrophic failures in complex, high-risk environments
High reliability organizations (HROs) consistently minimize failures and prevent catastrophic errors despite operating in complex, hazardous environments.
A quality committee reviews a case where a patient developed a serious infection after a clean surgery. No single error was identified, but multiple small system failures combined. This pattern is best described by:
Answer: The Swiss cheese model of accident causation
The Swiss cheese model illustrates how multiple layers of defense each have 'holes' (failures), and when holes align, harm reaches the patient.
Just culture in patient safety distinguishes between human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior. What is the appropriate organizational response to at-risk behavior?
Answer: Coaching and system redesign to remove incentives for the behavior
Just culture responds to at-risk behavior with coaching and removal of system incentives that promote the unsafe choice, not punishment.
Which of the following is an example of a structural quality measure in primary care?
Answer: Electronic health record adoption with clinical decision support capability
Structural measures assess the capacity and resources of a system to provide care, such as technology, staffing, and facility capabilities.
A practice wants to sustain improvements in preventive care rates after a QI project ends. Which strategy is most effective for long-term sustainability?
Answer: Embedding the change into standard workflows, policies, and staff training
Sustainability requires hardwiring changes into routine workflows, standard operating procedures, and onboarding processes so they persist without special effort.