I was just reading a report issued by IOM in 2001 (while I was putting together a presentation on quality in primary care-oddly enough). The report is entitled "Crossing the Quality Chasm." I have heard the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Leavitt, speak from this report many times. It states:
"...care must be delivered by systems that are carefully and consciously designed to provide care that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Such systems must be designed to serve the needs of patients, and to ensure they are fully informed, retain control and participate in care delivery whenever possible, and receive care that is respectful of their values and preferences."
It goes on....
"In the current health care system, scientific knowledge about best care is not applied systematically or expeditiously to clinical practice. An average of about 17 years is required for new knowledge generated by randomized controlled trials to be incorporated into practice, and even then application is highly uneven."
The report was released by the IOM Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, which consisted of a veritable "who's who" in American corporations and foundations. Maybe they need to be held to their word......
Just wanted to share that.....
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
Yes, sometimes it is hard to fathom a profession where there is good info that isn't being used, or given only lip-service and then back to the same old thing. I really cannot believe that highly educated people (those who stayed in school a long time for their degrees) can have been turned loose on the world with such disregard for appropriate behavior and conduct in professional matters.
Maybe we should be instituting an ethics genetic test. Do they have an ethics gene? No, then no medical/science degree. OK, maybe there isn't such a gene, but some test to weed out the incompetent and dishonest ones. Dishonesty is manifested when persons are exposed to new evidence but intentionally fail to incorporate it in their views.
BTW, this wording about the lag (from the IOM report) was used in the CA legislation protecting lyme docs.
And don't count on the IOM to help us with lyme specifically. They have issued some less than wonderful reports and their advisors for these reports come from the same institutions that regularly botch lyme. In fact, the IDSA was in favor of an IOM report on lyme!
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