What is “Quality Assurance” and what does it mean to foster a culture of safety and quality within the OHP?

The term "Quality Assurance" generally refers to the identification, assessment, correction, and monitoring of important aspects of patient care. The Quality Assurance Standard sets out a number of quality assurance activities that must be undertaken in an OHP which, when undertaken effectively, can help to foster a culture of safety and quality within the OHP.

The purpose of quality assurance monitoring activity is to identify problems and the frequency with which they occur, assess severity of issues, and develop remedial action as required to prevent or mitigate harm to patients.

The CMPA’s Learning from adverse events: Fostering a just culture of safety in Canadian hospitals and health care institutions¹ also has guidance around fostering a just culture of safety within an institution.

Medical Directors are required to regularly monitor the quality of care provided to patients through activities such as reviewing a selection of patient records. What are best practices with respect to this quality assurance activity?

An annual review of a random selection of medical records (e.g., 5-10 records) can help to monitor the quality of care within an OHP, including review of the following:

• record completion² and documentation of informed consent
• percentage and type of procedures
• appropriate patient selection³
• appropriate patient procedure
• where required, reporting results in a timely fashion
• evaluation of complications
• assessment of transfer to hospital, where required
• follow-up of abnormal pathology and laboratory results.

Endnotes

^1. Learning from adverse events: Fostering a just culture of safety in Canadian hospitals and health care institutions. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Medical Protective Association; 2009.

^2. For more information see the Advice to the Profession: Procedures Standard document.

^3. For more information see the Patient Selection Standard.