CLINICAL-QUALITY IMPROVEMENT - MEASURING AND MANAGING QUALITY IN REHABILITATION-MEDICINE

In this paper clinical quality improvement, also referred to as total quality management, is described as a theoretical and methodological f ramework. Use of this approach is proposed and examined as a paradigm for quality of care measurement and management in rehabilitation medic ine. While the field of rehabilitation has a long tradition in the are a of outcomes measurement, in particular that of functional status ass essment, the larger framework of clinical quality improvement offers a very promising and more complete framework for rehabilitation than th ose employed in the past. While the framework requires further testing and research, it has been useful in some areas of acute, as well as p rimary care. This paradigm is consistent with the approaches tradition ally taken in measuring the quality of rehabilitation medicine. Recomm endations are made for its application in rehabilitation medicine.