Certified in Public Health (CPH) Practice Exam

A pediatric patient diagnosed with an inner ear infection was mistakenly prescribed an asthma medication. This scenario illustrates which of the following?

1. Poor interpersonal quality

2. Poor technical quality

3. Inequitable access

4. Inefficient access

The correct answer is: Poor technical quality

This scenario demonstrates poor technical quality in healthcare, which refers to the adequacy of the services provided to patients, particularly the effectiveness of the interventions or treatments administered. In this case, the prescribing of an asthma medication to a pediatric patient suffering from an inner ear infection indicates a failure in delivering the proper treatment and an improper match between the patient's diagnosis and the prescribed medication. Technical quality encompasses not only the appropriateness of the medical intervention but also the knowledge and skills of healthcare practitioners in prescribing effective and suitable treatments for specific conditions. This situation highlights a breakdown in the process of correctly diagnosing and prescribing, suggesting that the healthcare provider lacked the necessary understanding or provided care that did not meet the expected standards. The other concepts, such as poor interpersonal quality, relate more to the communication and relationship between the patient and healthcare provider, while inequitable access focuses on disparities in healthcare availability among different populations. Inefficient access deals with the timeliness and suitability of access to healthcare services. None of these adequately address the core issue in the vignette, which is the provision of an inappropriate medication for the patient’s specific medical condition.