Introduction
The science of quality measurement is relatively new in health care. A quality measure is a resultant conversion in form of percentage, rate or time which depicts how fast or well a patients needs are taken care of by the health care system providers. The measurements require a lot of resources for collection and development of data that is used to make the resultant converted indicators of quality in health care.
Quality measurement is a relatively new science and requires a large amount of resources to develop and collect the information. These measures are mainly designed to gauge care based on evidence. The measures indicate promptness in service delivery, conformity of care to illness, disparities in delivery of health care and proper procedural medical care.
There are various journals that highlight issues related to health care, research and the status of health care quality. There are few journals that wholly dedicate their works to the review of health care quality and meausres, whereas; others dedicate a section of their works towards this end.
The International Journal for Quality in Health Care is an example of a journal that fully dedicates its writing and articles to health care quality measurement issues and research. The journal does research and activities that pertain to fostering safety and quality in health care. This journal makes publications in every discipline that is associated with safety and quality of health care. Examples included assessment ot technology, nursing care research and cost containment, evaluation of health care, research in health services, health economics and reseraches of a clinical nature that may be associated with the quality of health care. This is the journal that I find nost relavenant to quality measurement of health care. This is because it fully specializes with the quality and safety aspects of health care delivery (‘Oxford Journals’, 2010). Medicine.
The Journal of Public health receives submissions of articles for any aspect related to public health practice and research. The journal welcomes papers from all domains of public health which include health care quality measurement, service delivery improvement and health protection. Therefore, this journal has a section for articles related to helath care quality measurements. The journal does not specialize, and thus offers sections of its works to other health related issues such as public health laws and ethics. The journal may not be the best option or choice for anyone wishing to review articles about health care quality because it is not very comprehensive. This is because it dedicates only a small section of its content to health care quality and safety (APHA’, (2010).
Quality and Safety in Health care (QSHC) is a peer review international journal . the journal provides informmation that is meant to improve quality and safety of health care in the health industry. The journal forms an expressive forum for managers, researchers and clinical professionals. Other experts that can benefit from the journal are organisational behavior and development experts. Quality and Safety in Health care explores research, ideas and subjects related to management practices and routine clinical undertakings. The journal fosters an informative debate which focuses on benefits that patients are to receive based on implementation of safe and quality health care standards.The journal is very relevant to the field of health care quality and safety assessment. This is because it is wholly dedicated to the issues that pertain to quality and safety enhance ment in the health care delivery system (BMJ’, 2010).
Journal of health care quality published by Wiley and Blackwell is also another example of journals that specialize in healthh care quality issues and articles. The journal of health care quality offers a forum for professionals in the medical field to continously further the quality of the of the standard of their practices. This journal is the official publication of the National Association of Health Care Quality an organization that fosters quality and safe practices within the medical fraternity. The journal offers scientific and creative ideas in the search for quality within the medical field. The journal advances the practice of quality health care in the present day dymanic and diverse medical environment (NAHQ)’, (010). It serves as a resource all health care safety and quality experts and fosters excellence, model leadership and innovation in the fiel of health care safety and quality. The journal received an ‘A’ rank during the recent 2010 juornal rating in the field of research-Austaralia (ERA) (‘ERA Journal Ranking’, 2010).
Conclusion
A large number of these journals could be termed useful in areas of research related to health care quality and safety in health care delivery. However, it is notable that the most resourceful and relevant journals are those that specialize on publishing articles related to health care quality, safety and delivery. These specialized journals offer a wide array of articles related to health care quality, and thus; could be that best source to get all required information from one source. Conclusively, the International Journal for Quality in Health Care and Journal of health care quality published by Wiley and Blackwell for the National Association of Health Care Quality are the best journals to comprehensively source for information on quality health care delivery.
References
‘American Public Health Asscosiation (APHA)’, (2010). The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). Retrieved from http://ajph.aphapublications.org/misc/about.shtml, on 17th June, 2010.
‘BMJ Publishing Group (BMJ)’, (2010). International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care. Retrieved from http://internationalforum.bmj.com/left-column/left-box/qshc-journal, on 17th June, 2010.
‘ERA Journal Ranking’, (2010). Ranked Journal List. Retrieved from http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_journal_list.htm, on17th June, 2010.
‘National Association for Health Care Quality (NAHQ)’, (2010). The Official Journal of the National Association for Health Care quality. Retrieved from http://www.nahq.org/journal/; on 17th June, 2010.
‘Oxford Journals’, (2010). Medicine: Oxford Journals. Retrieved from http://www.google.co.ke/#hl=en&source=hp&q=health+care+journals&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m6g-ms1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=8f418f74e2212e1e; on 17th June, 2010.
