Health Care Quality: The Clinician's Primer

by David Nash, Janice Clarke, Alexis Skoufalos

This multi-authored book addresses various topics which are imperative for healthcare professionals seeking to understand each and every major facet of quality and safety. The book is organized into six sections, an introduction and overview of quality in health care; application of quality measures; evaluating quality; perspectives on value and value-based purchasing; and the national agenda for improving quality and safety. The concluding section is dedicated to forecasting the future directions of this important issue. Health Care A Clinician's Primer, edited by David B. Nash, MD, MBA, and colleagues at the Jefferson School of Population Health, provides a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by healthcare leaders striving to deliver high quality, patient-centered care in a safe and cost effective way. This book makes an excellent required reading for clinicians of all types and other healthcare leaders interested in learning more about quality and safety and the challenges facing our nation.

397 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Melsene G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read for those in the health quality arena. It is set out in sections with separate topics by different authors. It runs the gamut of quality measures and improvement to education reforms. Before you read this book, I suggest you read the 2 seminal books by IOM, "To Err is Human" and "Crossing the Quality Chasm." I started to read the Primer and then had to put it down to read the 2 aforementioned books with are seminal books on quality in health care. After reading the 2 seminal books, I picked the Primer up and was able to finish it with a better foundation. As a non clinician, this book was not easy to get through, however, it really is an excellent compilation and I highly recommend it for trustees of hospital boards and quality improvement gurus.

I met Dr David Nash at a medical conference in Philadelphia and was impressed with what was presented at the one day event I attended. I took lots of notes of course, there are way too many acronyms, but that's par for the course. The book includes lots of references, articles, and books with websites to search if needed. I found this very helpful.