Méthode d'amélioration des pratiques - version anglaise

Development of a general method to improve practice Written by, Armelle Desplanques-Leperre, MD, PhD, Marie Erbault, Nathalie Riolacci, MD, Bruno Bally, MD, Sylvie Legrain MD and Jean-Michel Chabot, MD. The remit of the French National Authority for Health (HAS) is to help improve the quality and safety of care. HAS develops programmes for practice improvement with the assistance of health professionals. Although good practice groups are being set up in France, French health professionals have not yet fully taken on board the ethos and methods of quality, and its corollary, practice appraisal. HAS’ objective was to test the acceptance of the improvement and assessment tools made available by a newly-developed method for the rapid development of practice improvement programmes. Examples of applications HAS applies the method to high-profile public health issues in France. Two of them represent contrasting situations: The management of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS): ACS is the second cause of mortality and morbidity in France. A key factor for survival is time to treatment. This depends on the emergency care pathway and on coordination between emergency services and cardiologists. Improving drug prescribing in the elderly: Improving drug prescribing in the elderly: The over-65s account for 16% of the French population and about 40% of out-of-hospital drug consumption.