Risk Adjustment in clinical procedures

Abstract

The evolution of the assessment of medical practice has been speeding up tremendously, as seen from recent literature (discussed in later chapters). However, patients in hospitals tend to differ notably in terms of mortality risk. This variability might result in additional fluctuation in the outcomes, thus masking the effectiveness, and resulting in misapprehension of the true assessment. In this dissertation, a systematic approach to assess clinical procedures is taken by taking into account this variability in the mortality risk and subsequently focusing on three major areas: statistical process control, comparison of procedures, and overall quality indicators.