Ground rules in a quality improvement team meeting set expectations for behavior and process to ensure productive collaboration.
Option A (Educate the team about pathways/guidelines): Education is a team activity, not the purpose of ground rules.
Option B (Help team members relate to patient needs): Relating to patients is a goal, not a function of ground rules.
Option C (Agree how meetings will be conducted): This is the correct answer. The NAHQ CPHQ study guide states, "Ground rules establish how quality improvement team meetings will be conducted, including communication, decision-making, and respect" (Domain 3). Examples include punctuality and active participation.
Option D (Eliminate the need for meeting minutes): Ground rules do not eliminate minutes, which document decisions.
CPHQ Objective Reference: Domain 3: Organizational Leadership, Objective 3.2, "Establish team ground rules," emphasizes setting meeting conduct. The NAHQ study guide notes, "Ground rules ensure effective team meetings" (Domain 3).
Rationale: Agreeing on meeting conduct fosters collaboration, as per CPHQ's leadership principles.
Reference: NAHQ CPHQ Study Guide, Domain 3: Organizational Leadership, Objective 3.2.

According to the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ), peer review is a quality control measure for medical research and practice, in which professionals review each other's work to ensure that it is accurate, relevant, and significant12.
The overall purpose of peer review is to improve the quality of care by enhancing the scientific validity, transparency, and integrity of published research, as well as the clinical performance, safety, and outcomes of healthcare providers1234.
Among the four options given, the best answer is C. Improve the quality of care, because this is the ultimate goal and benefit of peer review, regardless of the specific methods, metrics, or settings involved1234.
The other options are less accurate because:
A: Evaluate process improvement initiatives is a possible outcome of peer review, but not the desired one. Peer review can help assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of process improvement initiatives, but the aim is not to evaluate them for their own sake, but to improve the quality of care for patients125.
B: Compare provider performance is a possible outcome of peer review, but not the desired one. Peer review can help compare provider performance against established standards, benchmarks, or best practices, but the aim is not to rank or judge them, but to identify areas of strength and weakness, and to provide feedback and support for improvement126.
D: Limit privileges of at-risk providers is a possible outcome of peer review, but not the desired one. Peer review can help identify and address at-risk providers who may pose a threat to patient safety or quality of care, but the aim is not to punish or exclude them, but to protect patients and to help providers remediate their performance or behavior127. References: 1: [Peer review: What is it and why do we do it?] 2: [Peer Review Matters: Research Quality and the Public Trust] 3: [Peer review of qualityof care: methods and metrics] 4:
[What is the purpose of peer review in health care?] 5: [Utilization of Improvement Methodologies by Healthcare Quality Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic] 6: [Shaping the Future of the Healthcare Quality Profession] 7: [Understanding the Evolving Landscape of Healthcare Quality] : https://www.
medicalnewstoday.com/articles/281528 : https://pubs.asahq.org/anesthesiology/article/134/1/1/114542/Peer- Review-Matters-Research-Quality-and-the : https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/32/1/1 : https://www.
mlsgroupllc.com/mls-blog/what-is-the-purpose-of-peer-review-in-health-care : https://nahq.org/resources
/journal