Quality Assurance and Improvement Flashcards

Which statistical tool displays the frequency distribution of data to identify variation patterns in a process?

Answer: Histogram

A histogram displays the frequency of data points across intervals, revealing the distribution and variation patterns within a process.

In quality improvement, a 'fishbone diagram' is primarily used to:

Answer: Identify root causes of a problem

A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram organizes potential causes of a problem into categories to identify root causes systematically.

A healthcare organization wants to reduce medication errors. Which PDSA cycle step involves testing the change on a small scale?

Answer: Do

The 'Do' step of the PDSA cycle is where the planned change is implemented and tested on a small scale.

Benchmarking in quality improvement involves:

Answer: Comparing your processes to industry best practices

Benchmarking compares an organization's performance metrics and processes against recognized best practices or top-performing peers.

Which term describes the degree to which health services increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge?

Answer: Effectiveness

Effectiveness refers to how well care produces desired outcomes based on current evidence and professional knowledge.

A quality improvement team discovers that 20% of their processes cause 80% of their errors. This observation aligns with which principle?

Answer: The Pareto principle

The Pareto principle (80/20 rule) states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

In healthcare quality, 'sentinel event' review is conducted to:

Answer: Understand system failures after a serious adverse event

Sentinel event reviews analyze serious, unexpected adverse events to identify system failures and prevent recurrence.