Doing the right things and doing them the right way: association between hospital guideline adherence, dosing safety, and outcomes among patients with acute coronary syndrome.
Mehta RH, Chen AY, Alexander KP, et al. Doing the right things and doing them the right way: association between hospital guideline adherence, dosing safety, and outcomes among patients with acute coronary syndrome. Circulation. 2015;131(11):980-7. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.013451.
Guidelines for the care of patients with acute coronary syndromes recommend aggressive therapy with certain medications, such as antiplatelet therapies that carry a risk of bleeding complications. This cohort study found only a weak relationship between quality (measured as adherence to guideline-recommended therapy) and safety (measured as major bleeding rates) at the individual hospital level. Hospitals that maximized both quality and safety had the best patient outcomes.