Quality in primary care
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This is the fourth in a series of articles about the science of quality improvement. We examine what to measure, how to measure and some important measurement techniques, such as run charts, control charts and funnel plots. These help us to understand healthcare processes, to assess whether they are stable or improving and to determine how they can be improved further.
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Quality in primary care · Jan 2013
Impact of continuity on quality of primary care: from the perspective of citizens' preferences and multimorbidity - position paper of the European Forum for Primary Care.
Continuity of care is one of the cornerstones of primary care. Initially, the concept of continuity largely corresponded to one care provider and continuity between doctor and patient, but today, healthcare processes and organisations have grown and become more complex. A survey of patients with complex care needs found that in all of 11 countries studied care was often poorly coordinated. Multidimensional models of continuity have to be developed. ⋯ Continuity is, and will be, an important component of quality in primary care, especially from the perspective of citizens and growing multimorbidity. Methods to develop continuity should be promoted.
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Quality in primary care · Jan 2013
Are patients' preferences for shifting services from medical specialists to general practitioners related to the type of medical intervention?
To improve the feasibility of shifting medical specialist to general practitioner (GP) services in patient-centred health care systems, it is important to know how this substitution is valued by patients. However, insight into patients' preferences is lacking. ⋯ This study provides strong indications that patients' preferences for substitution are influenced by the type of medical intervention. Therefore it seems important that health policy makers, purchasers and practitioners take the preferences of (potential) patients into account.