Quality assurance: monitors in special care.

Special care units need to establish economically feasible and meaningful monitors to evaluate patient care needs. High-cost areas, such as special care, monitor appropriate use of resources in high-risk, high-volume, and problem-prone areas. The monitoring process needs to provide information regarding the quality of care in the special care unit without greatly decreasing time spent by staff in direct patient care. This chapter discusses development of efficient monitoring tools for quality assurance indicators in the special care unit.