Book Review
PDQ Care: Professional Development for Quality Care: Evaluating the Quality of Care
Penny Irwin and Jan Fordham
ISBN: 0 443 050945; 1995; 182 pages; Churchill Livingstone Melbourne;
Susan Tregoning
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of South Australia, SA
As the title indicates, the aim of this publication is to provide, in a distance education short course format, a professional development program in the processes associated with the evaluation of delivery of care. The format for the publication or pack as it is referred to, is a loose-leafed ringback folder of 182 pages with an accompanying 65 page booklet of readings. The purpose of this format is not obvious and to some extent detracts from the publication through its overall bulkiness. I feel it would do just as well with a traditional book presentation. The authors are to be congratulated in developing thjs short course, as the need for an increased understanding of the issues related to evaluation of quality care are ever increasing. This is especially so for the health care industry with the growth in the understanding of consumer rights and the rising pressures for cost containment resulting in the increased need for health workers to be accountable for their practices.
When considering this package, it is important to remember that it is specifically designed as a nonclassroom based short course for a range of health care workers, not just nurses working within the United Kingdom health care system. The structure of the presentation is well thought out and features logically sequenced sections. Each section is then divided again into subsections.
Each subsection involves an activity which directs the student (participant) to the accompanying booklet or to other government or local workplace policy and practices, to develop their answers. Each activity is identified with a time line and a following commentary which highlights some of the considerations the student should have examined when undertaking the activity.
As this course is directed to the United Kingdom market, most of these activities are specific to the local situation making this a major draw back in recommending the course to students from countries outside of the United Kingdom. However, if one was to consider the content more for its text rather than its purpose to provide a short course, several of the sections provide a useful basic synopsis to the issues related to the measurement of quality.
In particular, I recommend Section 3 'Purchasing for quality', which outlines the background and some of the issues related to the concept of purchaser and provider. This concept is fast infiltrating the Australian health care system especially in those organisations where there has been an adoption of a decentralised structure and/or are facing privatisation. Also, the last of these sections 'Using evaluation to improve practice', highlights the directions in which the contemporary quality movement is advancing the area of continuous quality improvement.
Additional content I would have liked to have seen addressed, (but the need to provide a package for a diverse audience may not permit this) is a discussion on the issues related to managed care or critical pathways and their relationship to quality improvement.
Issues in Accident and Emergency Nursing A short course like this is well overdue for those people who are undertaking an education program or are beginning workers in the delivery of health care services. However, for this package to be widely adopted, it would be necessary for many of the examples and activities to be adapted for relevance to an Australian audience.
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