Quality Care

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified the utilization of information technology as one of five essential competencies all healthcare practitioners need to deliver quality healthcare.1 With...

Healthcare today is increasingly complex. Expert clinical knowledge is not enough to ensure effective patient care. Strong communication skills, respect, and good connections among team members are critical to...

Serving the patient has always been at the heart of clinical laboratory medicine, however the Institute of Medicine has identified improving patient-centered care as a key competency to improve healthcare...

Many cultural groups, including gays and lesbians, disabled individuals, individuals with faiths unfamiliar to a practitioner, lower socioeconomic groups, ethnic minorities, and immigrant groups may receive no...

Experiencing the joy of being healthy plays a central role in modern life. Health improves the quality of our lives and the lives of those we love. I certainly don’t need to explain to you, how advances...

Being patient-centered, one of the Institute of Medicine’s 6 Quality Aims, is defined as respecting the patient’s culture, social context and specific needs as well as involving the patient in decision...

Patient access to quality healthcare services relies, in large part, on an adequate supply of well-trained allied health professionals. While there are thousands of medical laboratory jobs available...

“The Right Test on the Right Patient at the Right Time”…how often have you seen or heard this mantra?  It’s a goal all laboratory professionals should have!  The Institute of Medicine (IOM) lists...

Anything that is wasteful or has to be repeated is considered inefficient.  As healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, it is no surprise that the Institute of Medicine has made ‘efficiency’ one of the six...

Last week, on September 22nd,  the Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced the publication of its report, Improving Diagnosis in Health, a follow-up to To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. ...