Quality of care in general practice. A delphi study of indicators and methods

To identify methods for measuring quality of care in general practice, and to assess general practitioners' views about their acceptability, practicality and usefulness.

A delphi design was used. Questionnaires consisting mainly of open-ended questions were sent to 50 general practice teachers in New South Wales. A second questionnaire derived from the responses from the first round was sent to the same GPs who were asked to rate each of the responses.

The response rate by the general practitioners was 46 per cent for the first questionnaire and 64 per cent for the second one. A total of 29 indicators of quality of care and 20 strategies for assessing quality were suggested. The most favoured indicators were appropriate prescribing, communication skills, and participation in continuing medical education. A mixture of methods assessing both performance and competence was suggested.

A good consensus was achieved by teaching general practitioners criteria for defining and measuring quality of care.