Quality Indicators for Primary Health Care: A Systematic Literature Review

Data have indicated that countries with a strong system of Primary Health Care (PHC) are more likely to have efficient health systems and better health outcomes than countries that focus strongly on hospital services. The aim of the article was to systematically review implemented quality projects used for evaluation of quality in PHC services. A systematic literature review was conducted via MEDLINE to identify papers referring to international or national PHC quality assessment projects, published in English from 1990 to 2010. Projects were included if they had been implemented, had a holistic approach, and reported specifications of the quality indicators used. Sixteen publications were considered eligible for further analyses, referring to 10 relevant projects and a total of 556 indicators. Number and content of indicators and their domains varied across projects. Regarding raw data, lack of standardization of collection tools between projects could lead to invalid comparisons. In areas that international projects operate in parallel to national initiatives, there may be problems regarding expenses and burden of data collection, which might create competing interests and low quality of information. Further actions for alignment of quality projects on primary health care are required, for future results to become comparable.