Table 4.

Examples of Metrics in Quality in Acute Care Hospitals and Hospital-Based Clinics

Quality Domain	Metrics
Safety	Patient safety indicators (eg, pressure ulcer, iatrogenic pneumothorax, postoperative sepsis)
	Total hip and knee arthroplasty-associated complications
	NHSN SIR for CAUTI, CLABSI, CDI, SSI after colon surgery and hysterectomy
	Hypoglycemia and insulin use
	Warfarin elevated INR
Timeliness	Care in ED: median time from ED admit to departure to inpatient area for admitted patients, median time from ED arrival to discharge for discharged patients
Effectiveness	Readmissions
	Transfusion for hemoglobin level of 9 g/dl or greater prior to first transfusion
	Revisits to ED or hospital after outpatient procedures such as colonoscopy, biliary procedures, urological procedures and arthroscopy
	Mortality
Efficiency	Direct cost index for different services
	Hospital length of stay
Equity	The following variables evaluated by gender, race, and SES (non-low SES vs low SES):
	-Sepsis lactate timing, sepsis mortality O/E
	-NSTEMI troponin testing, NSTEMI mortality O/E
	-Maternal hemoglobin change, maternal transfusion rate
	-Mortality in patients with heart failure
Patient centeredness	Cleanliness and quietness
	Responsiveness of doctor and nurse
	Pain assessment

Note. NHSN, National Healthcare Safety Network; SIR, standardized infection ratio; CAUTI, catheter-associated urinary tract infection; CLABSI, central-line–associated bloodstream infection; CDI, Clostridioides difficile infection; SSI, surgical site infection; INR, international normalized ratio; ED, emergency department; SES, socioeconomic status; O/E, observed to expected ratio; NSTEMI, non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.