The implementation of quality assurance monitoring is an important
response to public demands for accountability in medicine as well as a
requirement for institutional accreditation by the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The author examines the
somewhat elusive definition of quality as it is applied to medical care. He
reviews the history, terminology, and reasons for quality assurance
monitoring and presents the JCAHO-defined concepts of indicators and
thresholds. Several common problems associated with the implementation of
quality assurance monitoring are discussed along with guidelines for the
development of quality assurance indicators in psychiatry.Abstract Teaser