Quality Indicators in Critical Care - Express Healthcare

A sensation was created throughout the world when Institute of Medicine (IOM) attributed up to 98000 deaths due to preventable medical errors in United States.1 Methodology of this report was challenged but the magnitude of the problem was highlighted again when a conservative estimate by Institute of Medicine and Healthgrades showed that 400,000-1.2 million errorinduced deaths had taken place during 1996–2006 in the United States.2 These reports emphasised the essentiality and need for radical change in the practices related to patient safety and implementation of quality parameters in health care establishments, more so in critical care. 3,4 In view of this alarming scenario, improving quality consciousness, identification of quality indicators, monitoring of indicators, and generation of national data base must be considered as the top most priority in Indian scenario for healthcare in general and critical care in particular. This is important, more so in critical care due to rapid growth but limited accountability to the end users.