Integrating ethics and quality improvement: practical implementation in the transitional/ extended care setting.

Abstract

A major challenge in health care today is to provide high-quality care that results in the best outcomes possible for patients and residents within the limits of available resources. Throughout the past decade, there has been a call from ethicists for health care institutions to integrate the ethics and quality improvement processes. This article describes how a transitional/extended care facility integrated the quality improvement process within an ethical framework to achieve high-quality care while controlling cost.