Institutional accreditation: public acknowledgement of possession of requisites provided by the regional standards for the provision of healthcare performances on behalf of the Regional Health Service.
Clinical audit: the professional verification activity, based on the clinical documentation and aiming to assess, retrospectively and according to predefined criteria, the actions performed within given contexts and times. The term is often used as a synonym of Peer Review and of VRQ (Verifica e Revisione di Qualità – Quality Vefication and Review).
“Carta dei servizi” (Regulations and standards code): the contractual document adopted by the subjects providing public services, and stating the missions, relational criteria and quality standards of healthcare services. It is edited according to the principles set in the statutory instrument Dpcm 19/5/1995.
Informed consent: the expression of will of the entitled person who, after being properly informed, authorizes the professional to perform a specific healthcare treatment. With the exception of some conditions addressed by the legislation, the consent is indispensable, since healthcare treatments are protected by the law on a free-will basis; the acquisition of the consent constitutes, therefore, an actual enforcement of respect for the person’s freedom rights (articles 12 and 32 of the Italian Constitution).
Day hospital: a diurnal hospitalization performed through divisions, sections or hospital services with diagnostic/curative/rehabilitative aims. This kind of hospitalization is limited to specific daytimes and does not cover, therefore, the whole 24h span starting from the moment the person is received.
Main diagnosis at dismissal: the main morbid condition, treated or examined during hospitalization; that is, the morbid condition which, in the course of hospitalization, implied the most important assistential issues and therefore absorbed the majority of resources in terms of diagnoses and/or treatment.
Risk management: a systematic process, including both the clinical and the managerial dimension, utilizing a series of methods, instruments and actions which allow to identify, analyze and treat risks, in order to improve the safety of patients.
Clinical governance: a system through which the healthcare organizations are made responsible for the continuous improvement of their services quality, and guarantee high assistential standards creating the optimal conditions to foster clinical excellence.
“Indice di case-mix – ICM” (Case-mix index - CMI): a synthetic indicator which, by utilizing the classification system for DRG, allows to evaluate the relative complexity of the case history treated in wards or hospitals compared together. It takes >1 values when the complexity of the case history from the examined ward is higher than what observed in a population of in-patients chosen as standard.
“Intramoenia” private practice: a condition of private practice by specialist doctors, within the facilities of their employee public hospital (public/private system) and outside the working hours provided by the National Health Service. In case the public structure is not able to host the private professional practice within its facilities, it can also authorize the employed doctor to practice professionally intramoenia (“within walls”) at another site.
“TAC” (X-ray computed tomography): a diagnostic methodology utilizing X-ray devices emitting a tenuous radiation panel. It can be employed on any section of the body, allowing to detect, bloodlessly, pathologic conditions even at their initial stage, thanks to the high resolution power provided by the computers.