A nurse begins working in a rehabilitation facility and notes that many patients suffer falls. She identifies the appropriate cases and brings them to the attention of her nurse manager. Together, they begin to identify the factors contributing to the increased number of falls and work on ways to improve this. The nurse knows that she is participating in which of these processes?

Quality improvement or performance improvement is the process used to meet or exceed patients’ satisfaction, quality of care, and achieve all planned outcomes for patients. Identifying problems, gathering information, and evaluating failures or weak links in the care process are all part of this process. Continuity of care refers to the proper communication between different healthcare departments and/or agencies as well as the patient to ensure all of the patient’s health outcomes are reached. Collaboration refers to the interdisciplinary interaction between different areas of healthcare for best results. Interdisciplinary care refers to care given across all areas of the healthcare spectrum necessary to reach the patient’s healthcare goals.