November/December 2006
Table of Contents

FEATURE ARTICLES

Do Educational Interventions Improve Management of Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia? Kirsten Schaffer, Susan Fitzgerald, Zulema Gonzalez-Sanchez, Lynda Fenelon

Abstract: In order to evaluate physicians' adherence to hospital guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia, an observational prospective study at an Irish teaching hospital was performed. Results indicate that antibiotic audit and educational interventions improve physicians' adherence to hospital guidelines.

Using Evidence-Based Performance Improvement in the Community Janice M. McCoy, Jacqueline Fowler Byers

Abstract: This article explores one community hospital's success in bringing a research focus into its performance improvement initiatives. 

Integrating Patient Safety Indicators into Patient Safety Programs Juliana Hart, Geraldine Sweeney

Abstract: Patient safety indicators can be valuable reporting tool to incorporate into patient safety plans in order to monitor performance and identify areas that warrant further investigation. 

Interview with a Quality Leader: Joan M. Marren on Home Healthcare Quality
Deborah Flores, Margaret V. McDonald

Joan Marren is chief operating officer of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), the largest nonprofit home care agency in the nation.

Assessment of Chiropractic Outcomes for Low Back Pain and Neck Pain: A Health Plan Quality Incentive Model 
Jim Woodburn, Richard Branson, Georgia Pavoloni, Chien-Chih Lin, Matthew Fritts, Christine Goertz 

Abstract: A quality improvement project succeeded in generating a large database on baseline neck pain and low back pain and functional disability and in documenting clinically and statistically significant improvements in outcomes, but progressive improvement in outcomes over the 4-year project period was not found.

Evaluating Quality of Primary Care Using the Electronic Medical Record
Karen Brandt Baldwin

Abstract: This article describes a study that investigated the viability of the electronic medical record as a database for evaluating quality in a women's primary health clinic.

Conference Brief Report: Case Management Society of America--One Purpose, Many Paths
Margaret P. Chu

DEPARTMENTS

5     Acknowledgments

JHQ Web Exclusives

q&a: John J. Byrnes on a Financial Model for Quality Programs
Joann Genovich-Richards

Media Reviews
Quality NETwork
Quality Products and Resources