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1 – 10 of over 85000Ailis ni Riain, Catherine Vahey, Conor Kennedy, Stephen Campbell and Claire Collins
– The purpose of this paper is to describe a national, comprehensive quality indicator set to support delivering high-quality clinical care in Irish general practice.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a national, comprehensive quality indicator set to support delivering high-quality clinical care in Irish general practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Potential general practice quality indicators were identified through a literature review. A modified two-stage Delphi process was used to rationalise international indicators into an indicator set, involving both experts from key stakeholder groups (general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, practice managers, patient and health policy representatives) and predominantly randomly selected GPs. An illustrative evaluation approach was used to road test the indicator set and supporting materials.
Findings
In total, 80 panellists completed the two Delphi rounds and staff in 13 volunteer practices participated in the road test. The original 171 indicators was reduced to 147 during the Delphi process and further reduced to 68 indicators during the road test. The indicators were set out in 14 sub-domains across three areas (practice infrastructure, practice processes and procedures, and practice staff). Practice staff planned 77 quality improvement activities after their assessment against the indicators and 31 (40 per cent) were completed with 44 (57 per cent) ongoing and two (3 per cent) not advanced after a six-month road test. A General Practice Indicators of Quality indicator set and support materials were produced at the conclusion.
Practical implications
It is important and relatively easy to customise existing quality indicators to a particular setting. The development process can be used to raise awareness, build capacity and drive quality improvement activity in general practices.
Originality/value
The authors describe in detail a method to develop general practice quality indicators for a regional or national population from existing validated indicators using consensus, action research and an illuminative evaluation.
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Carolina Elisabeth de Korte, Dirk F. de Korne, Jose P. Martinez Ciriano, J. Robert Rosenthal, Kees Sol, Niek S. Klazinga and Roland A. Bal
The purpose of this paper is to study the quality indicator appropriateness and use it for international quality comparison on diabetic retinopathy (DR) patient care process in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the quality indicator appropriateness and use it for international quality comparison on diabetic retinopathy (DR) patient care process in one American and one Dutch eye hospital.
Design/methodology/approach
A 17-item DR quality indicator set was composed based on a literature review and systematically applied in two hospitals. Qualitative analysis entailed document study and 12 semi-structured face-to-face interviews with ophthalmologists, managers, and board members of the two hospitals.
Findings
While the medical-clinical approach to DR treatment in both hospitals was similar, differences were found in quality of care perception and operationalization. Neither hospital systematically used outcome indicators for DR care. On the process level, the authors found larger differences. Similarities and differences were found in the structure of both hospitals. The hospitals’ particular contexts influenced the interpretation and use of quality indicators.
Practical implications
Although quality indicators and quality comparison between hospitals are increasingly used in international settings, important local differences influence their application. Context should be taken into account. Since that context is locally bound and directly linked to hospital setting, caution should be used interpreting the results of quality comparison studies.
Originality/value
International quality comparison is increasingly suggested as a useful way to improve healthcare. Little is known, however, about the appropriateness and use of quality indicators in local hospital care practices.
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Neil Govender, Samuel Laryea and Ron Watermeyer
Several researchers in the construction industry have mentioned that quality of tender documents is declining without tangibly assessing quality. Similarly, in practice, no…
Abstract
Purpose
Several researchers in the construction industry have mentioned that quality of tender documents is declining without tangibly assessing quality. Similarly, in practice, no standardised instrument exists to assess tender document quality. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to develop a framework to assess the quality of tender documents produced by built environment professionals in the construction industry. A framework was chosen to address the gaps in theory and practice as it provides a flexible but structured mechanism to assess tender document quality.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology contained three stages, namely: multi-investigator triangulation, a workshop with infrastructure experts and framework development and validation. A consolidated list of key quality indicators was developed following the literature review and multi-investigator triangulation. The indicators were discussed with ten experts in the South African construction industry, who were responsible for validating and providing insight on whether additional indicators were required. This informed development of the framework.
Findings
This paper proposes a framework to assess tender document quality by evaluating six key quality indicators namely: accuracy, clarity, completeness, standardisation, relevance and certainty.
Research limitations/implications
The framework is limited to the assessment of tender document quality in the construction industry and is suited to the “Design by Employer” contracting strategy. From an academic perspective, this paper provides researchers with a framework to measure and benchmark quality of tender documents in future studies.
Practical implications
This framework can be used by clients to continuously assess and benchmark quality of tender documents produced by professionals.
Originality/value
A comprehensive and standardised approach to assess tender document quality was not available in the construction literature or the construction industry. Therefore, this paper addressed this gap in knowledge, by providing consumers (clients and contractors) of tender documents and researchers a mechanism to assess quality.
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Eva Blozik, Monika Nothacker, Thomas Bunk, Joachim Szecsenyi, Günter Ollenschläger and Martin Scherer
The purpose of this paper is to examine the question of how official bodies, health care organisations, and professional associations deal with the absence of a methodological…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the question of how official bodies, health care organisations, and professional associations deal with the absence of a methodological gold standard for the simultaneous development of clinical practice guidelines and quality indicators, what procedures they use and what they feel are major strengths and limitations of their methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a web‐based survey among 90 organisational members of the Guidelines International Network (G‐I‐N) representing 34 countries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. All organisational G‐I‐N members were invited to participate in the survey by following a link provided in the invitation e‐mail.
Findings
The responses of 24 organisations were included in the final analysis. The results indicate a broad variability in the approaches and methods used to develop quality indicators and guidelines simultaneously. The answers of the participants indicated a lack of formal procedures for the simultaneous development. Formal procedures exist in only about half of the participating organisations. In addition, piloting or evaluation of the procedures is almost completely missing. Significantly, respondents mainly reported that the procedure used in their organisation “could certainly be more rigorous”. Besides various strengths, participants reported a considerable number of limitations of the development processes they use.
Originality/value
This survey among G‐I‐N members – despite limitations – gives helpful insights in the state of the simultaneous development of quality indicators and clinical practice guidelines and underlines the need for future activities in methodological standard development and quality improvement of these processes.
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Esther Adot, Anna Akhmedova, Helena Alvelos, Sofia Barbosa-Pereira, Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent, Sónia Cardoso, Pedro Domingues, Fiorenzo Franceschini, Dolors Gil-Doménech, Ricardo Machado, Domenico Augusto Maisano, Frederic Marimon, Marta Mas-Machuca, Luca Mastrogiacomo, Ana I. Melo, Vera Miguéis, Maria J. Rosa, Paulo Sampaio, Dani Torrents and Ana Raquel Xambre
The paper aims to define a dashboard of indicators to assess the quality performance of higher education institutions (HEI). The instrument is termed SMART-QUAL.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to define a dashboard of indicators to assess the quality performance of higher education institutions (HEI). The instrument is termed SMART-QUAL.
Design/methodology/approach
Two sources were used in order to explore potential indicators. In the first step, information disclosed in official websites or institutional documentation of 36 selected HEIs was analyzed. This first step also included in depth structured high managers’ interviews. A total of 223 indicators emerged. In a second step, recent specialized literature was revised searching for indicators, capturing additional 302 indicators.
Findings
Each one of the 525 total indicators was classified according to some attributes and distributed into 94 intermediate groups. These groups feed a debugging, prioritization and selection process, which ended up in the SMART-QUAL instrument: a set of 56 key performance indicators, which are grouped in 15 standards, and, in turn, classified into the 3 HEI missions. A basic model and an extended model are also proposed.
Originality/value
The paper provides a useful measure of quality performance of HEIs, showing a holistic view to monitor HEI quality from three fundamental missions. This instrument might assist HEI managers for both assessing and benchmarking purposes. The paper ends with recommendations for university managers and public administration authorities.
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Minyan Wei, Juntao Zheng, Shouzhen Zeng and Yun Jin
The main aim of this paper is to establish a reasonable and scientific evaluation index system to assess the high quality and full employment (HQaFE).
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this paper is to establish a reasonable and scientific evaluation index system to assess the high quality and full employment (HQaFE).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a novel Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) multi-criteria framework to evaluate the quality and quantity of employment, wherein the integrated weights of attributes are determined by the combined the Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) and entropy approaches.
Findings
Firstly, the gap in the Yangtze River Delta in employment quality is narrowing year by year; secondly, employment skills as well as employment supply and demand are the primary indicators that determine the HQaFE; finally, the evaluation scores are clearly hierarchical, in the order of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.
Originality/value
A scientific and reasonable evaluation index system is constructed. A novel CRITIC-entropy-TOPSIS evaluation is proposed to make the results more objective. Some policy recommendations that can promote the achievement of HQaFE are proposed.
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Pratima Verma, Vimal Kumar, Ankesh Mittal, Bhawana Rathore, Ajay Jha and Muhammad Sabbir Rahman
This study aims to provide insight into the operational factors of big data. The operational indicators/factors are categorized into three functional parts, namely synthesis…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide insight into the operational factors of big data. The operational indicators/factors are categorized into three functional parts, namely synthesis, speed and significance. Based on these factors, the organization enhances its big data analytics (BDA) performance followed by the selection of data quality dimensions to any organization's success.
Design/methodology/approach
A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based research methodology has been proposed and utilized to assign the criterion weights and to prioritize the identified speed, synthesis and significance (3S) indicators. Further, the PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations) technique has been used to measure the data quality dimensions considering 3S as criteria.
Findings
The effective indicators are identified from the past literature and the model confirmed with industry experts to measure these indicators. The results of this fuzzy AHP model show that the synthesis is recognized as the top positioned and most significant indicator followed by speed and significance are developed as the next level. These operational indicators contribute toward BDA and explore with their sub-categories' priority.
Research limitations/implications
The outcomes of this study will facilitate the businesses that are contemplating this technology as a breakthrough, but it is both a challenge and opportunity for developers and experts. Big data has many risks and challenges related to economic, social, operational and political performance. The understanding of data quality dimensions provides insightful guidance to forecast accurate demand, solve a complex problem and make collaboration in supply chain management performance.
Originality/value
Big data is one of the most popular technology concepts in the market today. People live in a world where every facet of life increasingly depends on big data and data science. This study creates awareness about the role of 3S encountered during big data quality by prioritizing using fuzzy AHP and PROMETHEE.
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Juliana Zeni Breyer, Juliana Giacomazzi, Regina Kuhmmer, Karine Margarites Lima, Luciano Serpa Hammes, Rodrigo Antonini Ribeiro, Natália Luiza Kops, Maicon Falavigna and Eliana Marcia Wendland
The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe hospital quality indicators, classifying them according to Donabedian’s structure, process and outcome model and in specific…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe hospital quality indicators, classifying them according to Donabedian’s structure, process and outcome model and in specific domains (quality, safety, infection and mortality) in two care divisions: inpatient and emergency services.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review identified hospital clinical indicators. Two independent investigators evaluated 70 articles/documents located in electronic databases and nine documents from the grey literature, 35 were included in the systematic review.
Findings
In total, 248 hospital-based indicators were classified as infection, safety, quality and mortality domains. Only 10.2 percent were identified in more than one article/document and 47 percent showed how they were calculated/obtained. Although there are scientific papers on developing, validating and hospital indicator assessment, most indicators were obtained from technical reports, government publications or health professional associations.
Research limitations/implications
This review identified several hospital structure, process and outcome quality indicators, which are used by different national and international groups in both research and clinical practice. Comparing performance between healthcare organizations was difficult. Common clinical care standard indicators used by different networks, programs and institutions are essential to hospital quality benchmarking.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review to identify and describe hospital quality indicators after a comprehensive search in MEDLINE/PubMed, etc., and the grey literature, aiming to identify as many indicators as possible. Few studies evaluate the indicators, and most are found only in the grey literature, and have been published mostly by government agencies. Documents published in scientific journals usually refer to a specific indicator or to constructing an indicator. However, indicators most commonly found are not supported by reliability or validity studies.
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M. van der Spiegel, P.A. Luning, G.W. Ziggers and W.M.F. Jongen
Manufacturers use several quality assurance systems to assure quality. However, their effectiveness cannot be assessed because an instrument does not exist. This article is based…
Abstract
Purpose
Manufacturers use several quality assurance systems to assure quality. However, their effectiveness cannot be assessed because an instrument does not exist. This article is based on a study that was set up to identify performance measurement indicators of an instrument that measures effectiveness of food quality systems, called IMAQE‐Food.
Design/methodology/approach
The instrument has been developed by translating a conceptual model in quantifiable performance measurement indicators. Literature research, qualitative research, Delphi sessions, and quantitative research were used.
Findings
In total, 28 relevant and comprehensible indicators were obtained that measure performance of quality management, production quality and their influencing factors in the bakery sector.
Originality/value
This paper will make a contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of food quality management by developing an instrument to measure effectiveness instead of compliance with norms and requirements or merely performance. This will support food manufacturers in deciding which system is most suitable to achieve their objectives. The developed procedure can be used for providing insight in determining the desired level of quality management, and for extending the instrument for other applications.
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Bart Van Looy, Paul Gemmel, Steven Desmet, Roland Van Dierdonck and Steven Serneels
Notes that the nature of the service process makes the measurement of productivity and quality more difficult. In this paper a methodology to delineate relevant indicators of…
Abstract
Notes that the nature of the service process makes the measurement of productivity and quality more difficult. In this paper a methodology to delineate relevant indicators of productivity and quality for services is developed. For both types of indicators, process analysis is a starting point. Insights from activity‐based management are introduced to work out productivity indicators. An approach based on quality function deployment is used to delineate relevant quality indicators. Both approaches are illustrated with case study material. During the process of developing these indicators, it became clear that realizing quality and productivity simultaneously within the service delivery process might imply a trade‐off. Implications and further extensions of this dynamic relationship are discussed within a larger service strategy framework.
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