Monitoring Functions

Medical staff monitoring can be divided into three functions: (1) review of medical records, (2) review of medical treatment, and (3) review of compliance with medical section rules and hospital bylaws. While the goal of these monitoring functions is to ensure proper patient care, it is important to remember that the overall quality of patient care encompasses more than the medical treatment itself. Many physicians do not appreciate that they may seriously compromise patient care through improper record keeping or violations of other "administrative" rules. A physician may make acceptable medical decisions but negligently injure a patient by failing to translate those decisions into understandable orders for the nursing staff. The medical record members and provides most of the data for the monitoring committees.