Quality Improvement Flashcards
6 cards from real AHIMA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Quality Improvement flashcards as text
What is a clinical audit?
Answer: A systematic review of clinical practice against defined standards to improve care quality
Clinical audits compare actual practice to evidence-based standards, identifying areas for improvement.
What are clinical pathways?
Answer: Standardized care plans for specific conditions outlining expected tests, treatments, and outcomes
Clinical pathways reduce variation in care by providing step-by-step guides for managing specific conditions.
What is root cause analysis in healthcare?
Answer: A systematic method for identifying the underlying causes of adverse events to prevent recurrence
RCA investigates incidents by working backward from the event to identify systemic factors that allowed it to happen.
What is benchmarking in healthcare quality?
Answer: Comparing performance metrics with peer organizations or best practices to identify improvement opportunities
Benchmarking compares your organization's performance against others to identify gaps and improvement opportunities.
What is patient safety culture?
Answer: An organizational culture that prioritizes safety through open reporting, learning from errors, and systems thinking
A strong safety culture encourages error reporting without blame, learns from mistakes, and continuously improves systems.
What is a key performance indicator (KPI) in healthcare?
Answer: A measurable value demonstrating how effectively an organization achieves its operational and clinical objectives
KPIs track progress toward specific goals like readmission rates, patient satisfaction, or coding accuracy.