Quality Improvement Flashcards
7 cards from real AHIC 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 Improvement flashcards as text
Which concept describes the spread of a QI improvement from one unit or department to other parts of an organization?
Answer: Spread
In QI terminology, 'spread' refers to intentionally taking a tested and proven improvement and implementing it in additional settings, units, or populations beyond the original test site.
A QI team reviewing EHR audit logs notices that nurses frequently document vital signs in free-text comments rather than structured fields. This behavior MOST likely indicates:
Answer: Workflow or usability issues with the structured data entry fields
Workarounds like free-text documentation typically indicate that the structured workflow does not align with clinical workflows, pointing to usability or design issues that should be addressed rather than blamed on individual users.
The SQUIRE 2.0 guidelines are used to:
Answer: Guide the reporting of healthcare quality improvement studies in peer-reviewed publications
SQUIRE (Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) 2.0 provides guidelines for reporting healthcare QI work in scientific publications, ensuring sufficient detail for others to assess and replicate the work.
Which Lean concept refers to creating a smooth, continuous flow of work by pulling work based on downstream demand rather than pushing work through the system?
Answer: Just-in-time (JIT) with pull systems
Just-in-time with pull systems ensures work or supplies are provided exactly when needed based on actual downstream demand, reducing inventory, wait times, and overproduction.
A hospital is benchmarking its surgical site infection (SSI) rates. The most appropriate external benchmark source for US hospitals would be:
Answer: CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data
The CDC's NHSN provides standardized, nationally aggregated infection data that hospitals can use to benchmark their SSI rates against risk-stratified national data using standardized definitions.
During a root cause analysis (RCA) of a wrong-patient medication error, the team identifies that the look-alike name alert in the EHR was being ignored due to alert fatigue. What category of contributing factor does this represent?
Answer: Human factors and technology design
Alert fatigue resulting from CDS design is a human factors and technology issue—the system's design created conditions that made it difficult for clinicians to respond appropriately to important alerts.
Which NQF concept ensures that a quality measure is worth the cost and burden of measurement by evaluating if the measure addresses an important gap in care?
Answer: Importance to measure and report
The NQF's 'Importance to measure and report' criterion evaluates whether a measure addresses a significant opportunity for improvement and whether the measure would meaningfully affect patient care and outcomes.