Quality is job one, and our patients and our profession deserve it.

摘要

In 1982, one of America's "big three" automotive companies launched the marketing slogan "Quality is job one," which really became its mission statement-and yes, there is a difference between a marketing slogan and a mission statement. Over the past 10 years, the concept of continuous quality improvement has dramatically improved and influenced the practice of medicine in the United States, and the issue of quality and its performance strikes at the very heart of medicine today. Idealistically, the goal of health care, whether practiced by a nursing assistant, a physician's assistant, an allied health professional, or a physician, should, first and foremost, be to provide the highest quality compassionate care to each and every patient. But make no mistake about it: medicine is a business, and hospitals, practices, and even academic centers look at the "bottom line." We certainly do live in a time when focus on cost in medicine, coupled with decreasing reimbursement, is putting an incredible strain on our ability to practice medicine.