Classifying indicators of quality: a collaboration between Dutch and English regulators

• Published in: International journal for quality in health care Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. 637 - 644
• Main Authors: MEARS, ALEX, VESSEUR, JAN, HAMBLIN, RICHARD, LONG, PAUL, OUDEN, LYA DEN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.12.2011
• Subjects: Advisory Committees; Care and treatment; Consensus; Cooperative Behavior; Data Collection - methods; England; Health policy; Hospitals; Medical service; Netherlands; Partnership; Patients; Pilot Projects; Quality Indicators, Health Care - classification; Quality of Health Care - standards; Risk management; England; Netherlands; indicator; classify; measure; metric; Europe; categorize
• ISSN: 1353-4505; 1464-3677
• DOI: 10.1093/intqhc/mzr055

Introduction. Many approaches to measuring quality in healthcare exist, generally employing indicators or metrics. While there are important differences, most of these approaches share three key areas of measurement: safety, effectiveness and patient experience. The European Partnership for Supervisory Organisations in Health Services and Social Care (EPSO) exists as a working group and discussion forum for European regulators. This group undertook to identify a common framework within which European approaches to indicators could be compared. Approach. A framework was developed to classify indicators, using four sets of criteria: conceptualization of quality, Donabedian definition (structure, process, outcome), data type (derivable, collectable from routine sources, special collections, samples) and data use (judgement (singular or part of framework) benchmarking, risk assessment). Indicators from English and Dutch hospital measurement programmes were put into the framework, showing areas of agreement and levels of comparability. In the first instance, results are only illustrative. Conclusions and implications. The EPSO has been a powerful driver for undertaking cross-European research, and this project is the first of many to take advantage of the access to international expertize. It has shown that through development of a framework that deconstructs national indicators, commonalities can be identified. Future work will attempt to incorporate other nations' indicators, and attempt cross-national comparison.