Quality of care
Every person diagnosed with breast cancer deserves the best care possible. Quality of care is a measure of:
- How well your breast cancer is treated
- How well you are cared for during and after treatment
The Institutes of Medicine define good quality of care as:
“providing patients with appropriate services in a technically competent manner, with good communication, shared decision-making and cultural sensitivity” [1].
Getting good care means you have the best treatment for your breast cancer and your treatment is given with compassion. This section describes ways you can help ensure you get the best quality of care.
Getting good care
Being informed is one of the best ways to help ensure you'll get good medical care. Learning about breast cancer and your specific diagnosis and treatment options can help you ask important, guided questions of your health care providers and share in decision-making.
The next step is to understand what makes up good care. In health care research, many methods are used to measure the quality of care people get from a provider or medical center. Three of the more common methods are discussed below.
Quality of care of hospitals and medical centers
A quality hospital or medical center should have:
- Clean, up-to-date facilities
- Well-stocked examining and operating rooms
- Up-to-date diagnostic equipment
- Health care providers with appropriate professional credentials
Hospitals and medical offices that have these are prepared to offer good care. However, having the necessary facilities and supplies does not always ensure quality care. The type of treatment offered and how well people do after care is given are often more important measures of quality [2].
Quality of patient care
This measure looks at the quality of care given by health care providers and hospitals. Providers, in addition to giving good basic care, should follow current guidelines for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer [2].
The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations conducts site visits and audits of medical centers to check their quality of care. The Commission gives each facility a rating based on performance. To find a hospital that meets safety and quality standards, visit the Commission's website or call (630) 792-5800.
How well do people do after their treatment?
Ideally, it would be good to know how well people do when treated by different health care providers and at different hospitals, but this information is not readily available.
To help people get the information they need to make decisions about their care, organizations like the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) are collecting data on outcomes. They ask the type of questions below to determine whether a provider or hospital is giving good care:
- What are the rates of complications after surgery?
- What are the survival rates?
- What is the overall quality of life after treatment?
Updated 05/16/11
