Identification and prioritization of quality indicators in clinical genetics: an international survey.

The range and demand for clinical genetic services will continue to grow, and now is an ideal time to assess current service quality. Based on the previous work of quality professional organizations such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) which is now known as The Joint Commission (TJC), an independent group of genetic and healthcare quality professionals (InheritQual) drafted and defined a list of potential quality indicators for clinical genetics. Perspectives on the appropriateness and the practicality of each indicator were surveyed and analyzed.

Development, testing, and validation of a patient satisfaction questionnaire for use in the clinical genetics setting.

Patient satisfaction is an important component of assessing quality of care. The purpose of this study is to develop a concise patient satisfaction tool specifically for use in the clinical genetics setting. An international survey identified two domains, "Respect Given" and "Patient Questions Answered" as being important components of satisfaction in the genetic encounter.

Testing a conceptual framework for diabetes self-care management.

Diabetes is a major source of morbidity, mortality, and economic expense in the United States. The majority of researchers and clinicians believe that diabetes is a self-care management disease, and that patients should be reliable, capable, and sufficiently responsible to take care of themselves. However, individuals with diabetes may or may not have diabetes knowledge, social support, self-care agency (an individual's capability to perform self-care actions), and self-efficacy (an individual's beliefs in his or her capability to perform self-care actions) that would help them to engage in diabetes self-care management.