From retrospective to concurrent monitoring in a university student health center: a report on the transition.

From 1984, when the quality assurance (QA) program at the Student Health Center of the New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, was initiated, to 1990, QA activities moved from purely retrospective chart reviews to concurrent monitoring. The QA plan divides center services into six units (physician medical, certified nurse practitioner [CNP] medical, nursing, clerical, laboratory, and pharmacy), for which indicators are selected by the QA committee to be evaluated each semester. Concurrent monitoring has led to improvement in areas such as laboratory specimen labeling, patient chart documentation, and patient satisfaction.