©Jason McConnel 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.
Exam Questions With Correct Answers A+
What are IOM's six aims to guide improvements? - Answer✔Safe, Timely, Efficient, Effective,
Equitable, Patient-centered
Define the acronym STEEEP - Answer✔- Safe (avoiding injuries to patients caused by the care
that is intended to help them)
- Timely (reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for those who receive and give care)
- Effective (providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and
refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit)
- Efficient (avoiding waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy)
- Equitable (providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such
as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, socioeconomic status)
- Patient-centered (care that is respectful of and responsive to individuals patient preferences,
needs, and values, and enduring that patient values guide all clinical decisions)
Provides objective, timely, authoritative information and advice regarding health and science
policy to government, the corporate sector, the professions, and the public - Answer✔IOM
What are the 10 simple rules to guide improvements? - Answer✔- care based on continuous
healing relationships
- care customized to patient needs and values
- the patient is the source of control
- knowledge is shared and information flows freely
- decisions making is evidence based
- safety is a system property
- Transparency is necessary (information should be available for patients and families, like the
systems performance on safety, patient satisfaction)
- needs are anticipated
- waste is continually decreased
1|Page
, ©Jason McConnel 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- cooperation among clinicians is a priority
What principles do the terms (quality management, total quality management, continuous quality
improvement, statistical process control, and performance improvement) embody? -
Answer✔Assessment and improvement of work processes while focusing on what customers
want and need.
What are the three cornerstones (features it depends on) of Quality Management? - Answer✔1.
Quality
2. Scientific approach
3. "All one TEAM"
Who defines the Quality of health care? - Answer✔The Customer (Patient) defines quality
individual or group who relies on an organization to provide a product or service -
Answer✔Customer
How is quality defined by the customer? - Answer✔- the customers pay attention to both
personal interactions and products or services
- if the bundle of products or services provided is seen as a good value, then customer loyalty is
enhanced
what is the scientific approach? - Answer✔2nd cornerstone of QM
- to make significant improvements in an organization's processes, decisions must be based on
sound, valid data, and
- the people managing the processes must have a clear understanding of the nature of variation in
processes.
What is a process? - Answer✔is a series of linked steps necessary to accomplish work
the differences in how the steps in the process might be accomplished and/or the variables that
may affect each step in the process - Answer✔Variation
Why is understanding variation important? - Answer✔is necessary to identify the direction that
improvement efforts must take
What are the Two types of variation in Processes? - Answer✔1. common cause variation (stable,
predictable and in statistical control)
- TOTAL NUMBER OF PATIENTS with postoperative orders on a given day (a factor in which
doctors missed writing d/c orders for a Foley)
2. special cause variation (unstable, unpredictable, and not in statistical control)
- "FAILURE TO DOCUMENT THE CATHETER D/C ORDERS because some doctors did not
get trained"
2|Page
Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.
Exam Questions With Correct Answers A+
What are IOM's six aims to guide improvements? - Answer✔Safe, Timely, Efficient, Effective,
Equitable, Patient-centered
Define the acronym STEEEP - Answer✔- Safe (avoiding injuries to patients caused by the care
that is intended to help them)
- Timely (reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for those who receive and give care)
- Effective (providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and
refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit)
- Efficient (avoiding waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy)
- Equitable (providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such
as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, socioeconomic status)
- Patient-centered (care that is respectful of and responsive to individuals patient preferences,
needs, and values, and enduring that patient values guide all clinical decisions)
Provides objective, timely, authoritative information and advice regarding health and science
policy to government, the corporate sector, the professions, and the public - Answer✔IOM
What are the 10 simple rules to guide improvements? - Answer✔- care based on continuous
healing relationships
- care customized to patient needs and values
- the patient is the source of control
- knowledge is shared and information flows freely
- decisions making is evidence based
- safety is a system property
- Transparency is necessary (information should be available for patients and families, like the
systems performance on safety, patient satisfaction)
- needs are anticipated
- waste is continually decreased
1|Page
, ©Jason McConnel 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- cooperation among clinicians is a priority
What principles do the terms (quality management, total quality management, continuous quality
improvement, statistical process control, and performance improvement) embody? -
Answer✔Assessment and improvement of work processes while focusing on what customers
want and need.
What are the three cornerstones (features it depends on) of Quality Management? - Answer✔1.
Quality
2. Scientific approach
3. "All one TEAM"
Who defines the Quality of health care? - Answer✔The Customer (Patient) defines quality
individual or group who relies on an organization to provide a product or service -
Answer✔Customer
How is quality defined by the customer? - Answer✔- the customers pay attention to both
personal interactions and products or services
- if the bundle of products or services provided is seen as a good value, then customer loyalty is
enhanced
what is the scientific approach? - Answer✔2nd cornerstone of QM
- to make significant improvements in an organization's processes, decisions must be based on
sound, valid data, and
- the people managing the processes must have a clear understanding of the nature of variation in
processes.
What is a process? - Answer✔is a series of linked steps necessary to accomplish work
the differences in how the steps in the process might be accomplished and/or the variables that
may affect each step in the process - Answer✔Variation
Why is understanding variation important? - Answer✔is necessary to identify the direction that
improvement efforts must take
What are the Two types of variation in Processes? - Answer✔1. common cause variation (stable,
predictable and in statistical control)
- TOTAL NUMBER OF PATIENTS with postoperative orders on a given day (a factor in which
doctors missed writing d/c orders for a Foley)
2. special cause variation (unstable, unpredictable, and not in statistical control)
- "FAILURE TO DOCUMENT THE CATHETER D/C ORDERS because some doctors did not
get trained"
2|Page
