Tools for measuring patient safety in primary care settings using the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality and safety
• General practice and primary care research
• Health services research

Background:

• Patient safety in general practice is under-researched compared to hospital settings.
• General practice accounts for the majority of patient healthcare interactions.
• There is a need for standardized patient safety tools in primary care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a comprehensive patient safety toolkit for general practices.
• To develop feasible patient safety measures applicable across diverse healthcare settings.
• To establish indicators for assessing patient safety in general practice.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method with international expert consensus.
• Conducted a systematic literature review to identify relevant patient safety statements.
• Applied the Structure-Process-Outcome taxonomy for item assessment.

Main Results:

• 101 out of 205 statements were rated as necessary for general practice patient safety assessment.
• The majority of validated statements (73) focused on structural or organizational aspects.
• A significant portion (22) addressed process measures, with 6 focusing on outcomes.

Conclusions:

• A validated patient safety toolkit for general practice has been developed.
• The toolkit provides tools and indicators for interventions to improve safety outcomes.
• This represents a novel, systematic approach to general practice patient safety applicable worldwide.