Constructing quality of care: experiences, policies and practices since the 1960s

The idea that healthcare quality could be defined and measured through outcomes, structures and processes emerged in the USA in the 1960s and then spread to other nations, including the UK.

Drawing on interviews with clinicians, policymakers and patient groups in the UK and the USA, this project will historicise the emergence of the international healthcare quality movement, focusing on how it has transformed health policy and practice at every level. Quality improvement initiatives have been accompanied by increasing concern about patient safety and this work will produce new evidence to explain why this might be so. It will also bridge approaches in the medical humanities and policy engagement.