Reports

Ensuring continuous, objective reporting of quality performance is one of the HQC's key aims and objectives. To date we have released studies on:

Adult Intensive Care Unit Collaborative. Critical care patients are receiving better treatment as a result of a year-long quality improvement initiative involving eight adult intensive care units in the province. Teams improved two aspects of care that most affect critically ill patients: prevention of potentially harmful blood clots called venous thromboembolism (VTE) and control of sedation/agitation. Click here to learn more.

Asthma Care. Nearly one in five (18%) of Saskatchewan people with asthma do not have good control of their condition, resulting in potentially avoidable visits to doctors and emergency departments and admissions to hospital. The asthma care quality improvement guide summarizes five strategies shown in the literature to be successful in improving asthma care. Click here to learn more.

Breast Cancer Care. In recent years, wait times for health services have come to the fore as an important issue for Canadians. The HQC and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency worked together to measure times for care and survey women about their care experiences, and to identify opportunities to improve how women move through the breast cancer care system. Click here to learn more.

Diabetes Care. This report is the first Saskatchewan study to look at results of blood sugar and cholesterol testing, key measures of how well a patient's diabetes is being managed. HQC found less than half of people in Saskatchewan with diabetes had blood sugar levels in the recommended range, or LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels that were on target. Click here to learn more.

Drug Management of Saskatchewan Seniors Living in the Community. Pharmacotherapy is an integral and challenging part of providing quality care to the elderly. This study found Saskatchewan seniors regularly receive drugs that increase their risk of confusion, dizziness, and falls. Click here to learn more.

Drug Management of Saskatchewan Seniors in Long-Term Care. This study looked at 2001 data on what drugs special care home residents were dispensed, in what dosages, and in what combinations. It compared these dispensing patterns against a number of indicators, to determine if seniors were dispensed drugs that could potentially put them at risk for adverse events. Click here to learn more.

Patient Experience Survey. Saskatchewan's first province-wide survey of acute hospital patients shows the vast majority (94%) rate the overall quality of hospital care they receive as good or higher. The greatest opportunities for improvement in Saskatchewan hospitals are related to provider-patient communications, particularly around discharge planning. Click here to learn more.

Post-Heart Attack Care Quality Improvement Guide. The Quality Improvement Guide is a living document of leading practices in post-AMI care. The guide contains information on strategies, key resources, success stories, and includes sample tools. Click here to learn more.

Shared Mental Health Care. Family physicians treat more patients for mental illness than any other type of health professional. This study identified ways of improving mental health care among physicians, mental health professionals, nurses and others. Click here to learn more.

Hip Fracture Care. About 900 Saskatchewan seniors fracture a hip each year and a quarter of those patients die within one year of fracturing a hip. The first 3 months after being discharged from the hospital are the most critical. This report provided recommendations for improving post-hospital hip fracture treatment. Click here to learn more.

Quality of Workplace for Saskatchewan Nurses. This study reported the results of a pilot study involving front-line nurses in Saskatchewan improving their working conditions. HQC found improvements in nurses' perceptions about the quality of their working environments in the units where the new Quality Workplace Program was implemented. Click here to learn more.

Testing Bone Mineral Density. Based on research done by the former Health Services Utilization and Research Commission (HSURC), the Health Quality Council made several recommendations on testing bone mineral density. Testing bone density is an important part of preventing or treating osteoporosis, a condition that affects approximately 35,000 people in Saskatchewan. Click here to learn more.

We have also released the following discussion papers:

A Picture of Health in Saskatchewan (through HSURC)

Room for Improvement