Abstract
The measurement of change in healthcare depends on the purpose of the evaluation. There are three distinct purposes: internal quality improvement, external quality measurement, and research. A rigorous and systematic process is needed to develop and test the validity and reliability of quality indicators; different methods are available. Knowledge about the quality and safety of care is a basic step in stimulating changes and improvements in healthcare. This chapter defines the concept of a quality indicator and describes different types and domains of indicators. Consensus methods can be used to generate topics for indicator development. Consensus methods can also be employed when indicators are available from agencies or scientific literature to create broad agreement among the target users. The chapter concludes with examples of the effectiveness of indicator sets in accountability programs, and future developments in defining quality indicators.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Improving patient care: the implementation of change in clinical practice, |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Edition | 2 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118525975 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780470673386 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |