Citation

Brauner DJ, Werner RM, Shippee TP, Cursio J, Sharma H, Konetzka RT. Health Aff. (Hope) 2018; 37(11): 1770-1778.

Affiliation

R. Tamara Konetzka ( konetzka@uchicago.edu ) is a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and in the Department of Medicine, University of Chicago.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation)

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0721

PMID

30395505

Abstract

The past several decades have seen significant policy efforts to improve the quality of care in nursing homes, but the patient safety movement has largely ignored this setting. In this study we compared nursing homes' performance on several composite quality measures from Nursing Home Compare, the most prominent recent example of a national policy aimed at improving the quality of nursing home care, to their performance on measures of patient safety in nursing homes such as pressure sores, infections, falls, and medication errors. Although Nursing Home Compare captures some aspects of patient safety, we found the relationship to be weak and somewhat inconsistent, leaving consumers who care about patient safety with little guidance. We recommend that Nursing Home Compare be refined to provide a clearer picture of patient safety and quality of life, allowing consumers to weight these domains according to their preferences and priorities.

Language: en

Keywords

Long-Term Care; Quality Of Care; patient safety