Developing a framework of, and quality indicators for, general practice management in Europe

Area of Science:

• Primary Care Management
• Health Services Research
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare

Background:

• General practice management quality varies across European countries.
• A unified approach to assessing primary care organization is needed.
• Existing quality indicators may not be universally applicable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a shared framework of quality indicators for general practice management.
• To achieve consensus on these indicators among experts from six European nations.
• To assess the face validity and usefulness of proposed indicators.

Main Methods:

• A two-round postal Delphi questionnaire was administered to national expert panels in six European countries.
• Panels comprised primary care practitioners and quality experts.
• Face validity of indicators was rated by expert panels.

Main Results:

• A consensus definition of practice management was achieved across five domains: infrastructure, staff, information, finance, and quality and safety.
• A common set of 62 indicators for general practice organization was identified.
• Sixty-two indicators were rated as face valid by all six expert panels, including out-of-hours services and staff involvement in quality improvement.

Conclusions:

• A European set of practice management quality indicators can be developed despite diverse healthcare systems and cultures.
• These indicators are valuable for quality assessment procedures in primary care.
• The findings highlight the relevance of practice management issues across different European primary care settings.