Being informed is one of the best ways to help ensure you'll get good medical care. Learning about breast cancer and specific diagnosis and treatment options can help you ask important, guided questions of health care providers and share in the decision making process.
The next step to ensuring good medical care 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 health care provider or medical facility. Three of the more common methods are discussed below.
Does the hospital or medical office have all that is needed to offer high-quality care?
A quality hospital or medical office should have:
- Clean, up-to-date facilities
- Well-stocked examining and operating rooms
- Up-to-date diagnostic equipment
- Health care providers with appropriate medical credentials
Hospitals and medical offices that have these things are prepared to offer good care. However, having the necessary facilities and supplies does not always mean that good care is given. The type of treatment offered and how well people do after care is given are often more relevant measures of quality [1].
How are people cared for and treated?
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 [1]. 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 do people do after their treatment?
This measure looks at how well people do with one health care provider or hospital compared to another, in both days and years after treatment. Getting detailed information on a provider or hospital can be difficult since much of it is not readily available to the public. Organizations like the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) are collecting this information and making it available to the public. They ask the type of questions below to determine whether a health care 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?
These data collections should help improve the overall quality of cancer care and give people information they need to make decisions about their care.
Until such information is available, you can use other means to check the quality of care that health care providers and hospitals provide. The sections in this chapter discuss ways to do this.
Updated 08/18/09
