Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #99675

Aviva Walker-Sicard, MPH, Dept. of Public Health, Mental Health, and Administrative Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, 9278 Canterbury Riding, Laurel, MD 20723, 312-343-1748, nthaLord@yahoo.com, Lucy Marion, PhD, RN, FAAN, School of Nursing, Medical College of Georgia, 997 St. Sebastian Way, Augusta, GA 30912, Susan Braun, MS, RN, APRN, BC, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S Damen, M/C 802, Chicago, IL 60612, and Diane Pineda, MSN, FNP, RN, Department of Public Health, Mental Health, and Administrative Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, 845 South Damen, Chicago, IL 60612.

Quality assurance is an increasingly important part of healthcare management. It is the structured review and continuous improvement of all clinical and health care services. A quality assurance program provides information that can act as a means to track performance, but also serve as a means by which regulatory agencies assess the healthcare organization. The Center for Integrated Health Care (IHC) is an academic nursing center which partnered with Thresholds, a community rehabilitation services organization to provide healthcare services to their members, individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. The advanced practice nurses integrate the primary and mental health care needs of this population in an innovative model of healthcare. This paper will discuss the development of a quality assurance program for IHC. It will outline the key elements of the program and discuss their importance to the academic nursing center.

Learning Objectives:

• Definition of quality healthcare
• Development of a quality assurance program for a clinical practice
• The importance of a quality assurance program for clinical practice

Keywords: Quality Assurance, Health Care Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.