Premium
The ends of outcomes assessment
Author(s) -
PhD Richard Gunderman MD
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.1998.tb00098.x
Subject(s) - quality (philosophy) , work (physics) , psychology , health care , quality assessment , cognition , outcomes research , nursing , medicine , applied psychology , management science , alternative medicine , psychiatry , political science , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , external quality assessment , epistemology , pathology , law
Outcomes assessment holds great promise to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. By subjecting practices to rigorous and systematic analysis, we should be in a position to make judgments about what does and does not work in clinical practice. However, the outcomes of outcomes assessment themselves should be approached with the same critical eye. Among the many sorts of criteria by which to evaluate outcomes assessment are several key parameters: foremost among them are cognitive outcomes, ethical outcomes, and economic outcomes. Only when these outcomes are thoroughly explored and taken into account will the fullest potential of outcomes assessment be realized.