At Healthcare Economist, we talk a lot about quality metrics. What they can and cannot do. One of our gurus of health care quality measurement, Avedis Donabedian, weighed in on his thoughts on how best they should be used:
“Systems awareness and systems design are important for health professionals, but they are not enough. They are enabling mechanisms only. It is the ethical dimensions of individuals that are essential to a system’s success. Ultimately, the secret of quality is love. You have to love your patient, you have to love your profession, you have to love your God. If you have love, you can then work backward to monitor and improve the system.”