Safety measurement and monitoring in healthcare

"This paper summarises the findings of a more extensive report and proposes a framework which can guide clinical teams and healthcare organisations in the measurement and monitoring of safety and in reviewing progress against safety objectives."

Safety measurement and monitoring in healthcare: a framework to guide clinical teams and healthcare organisations in maintaining safety
C Vincent, S Burnett, J Carthey

BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 670–677

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The implementation leadership scale

"The ILS is a brief tool that may be used in implementation research to assess the extent to which leaders support their staff in implementing EBP."

The implementation leadership scale (ILS): development of a brief measure of unit level implementation leadership
GA Aarons, MG Ehrhart, LR Farahnak
Implementation Science, 2014, 9: 45

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Measuring quality at a system level

"Quality is being measured and reported across healthcare organizations and sectors, but efforts are rarely made to connect the activity in one organization to quality experienced by patients and clients in another part of the healthcare system. This article describes one regional health organization's journey to measuring health quality at a system level." 

Measuring quality at a system level: an impossible task? the Toronto Central LHIN experience
R Solomon, C Damba, S Bryant
Healthcare Quarterly, 2013, 16(4): 36-42

Read more here.

A framework for measuring and monitoring safety

"The measurement of past harm will always be a cornerstone to understanding safety. Measures need to be specific and tracked over time to help to assess whether care in a particular area, and overall, is becoming safer."

A framework for measuring and monitoring safety: A practical guide to using a new framework for measuring and monitoring safety in the NHS

The Health Foundation

April 2014

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The challenge of change in acute mental health services

"VOCALISE can be used to explore staff perceptions of implementation climate and to assess how staff attitudes shape the successful outcomes of planned changes."

The challenge of change in acute mental health services: measuring staff perceptions of barriers to change and their relationship to job status and satisfaction using a new measure (VOCALISE)
C Laker, F Callard, C Flach, P Williams, J Sayer, T Wykes
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:23

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Patient reports of the outcomes of treatment: a structured review of approaches

"The purpose of this was to identify suitable candidate questions for a short instrument to tap patient evaluations of in-patient hospital interventions."

Patient reports of the outcomes of treatment: a structured review of approaches
H Lloyd, C Jenkinson, M Hadi, E Gibbons, R Fitzpatrick
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2014, 12:5

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Is the quality of care in England getting better?

"The ability of the health system in England to monitor quality is increasing and, partly in response to the Francis Inquiry, there have been large changes in the range of ways that quality is assessed and measured."

Is the quality of care in England getting better? QualityWatch Annual Statement 2013
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
November 2013

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Taking safety on board: the board's role in patient safety

"The paper looks at three main areas: the board’s core roles in relation to patient safety; how boards might deliver these roles; and the optimal relationship between board leadership, clinical leadership and regulatory oversight."

Taking safety on board: the board's role in patient safety
A Fresko, S Rubenstein
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Identifying risks and monitoring safety: the role of patients and citizens

"The paper discusses opportunities for patients, their families and carers, as well as the wider public, to become part of an integrated system for ensuring the safety of care."

Identifying risks and monitoring safety: the role of patients and citizens
J O'Hara, R Isden
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Measuring and monitoring safety: an acute care perspective

"This thought paper offers reflections on the measurement and monitoring of safety from the perspective of a practising clinician based at a busy district general hospital."

Measuring and monitoring safety: an acute care perspective
C Peden
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Measuring and monitoring safety: a primary care perspective

"This thought paper considers the differences between primary care and other settings and explains that a variety of factors mean that assessing harm and safety in primary care remains a challenge."

Measuring and monitoring safety: a primary care perspective
A Esmail
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Asymmetry of influence: the role of regulators in patient safety

"By working together to create conditions which promote engagement with professional responsibility and identity, regulators can create a consistent regulatory system within which safe care can flourish."

Asymmetry of influence: the role of regulators in patient safety
D Bilton, H Cayton
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Is the quality of care in England getting better?

"This paper is a summary of the first annual statement from the QualityWatch programme. It is not comprehensive but provides an overview of our initial research into the quality of publicly-funded health and social care services in England."

Is the quality of care in England getting better?
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
October 2013

Read more here.

Measuring harm

"This was the third in a series of roundtable discussions looking at potential future improvements in patient
safety involving a broad approach which:

• incorporates greater involvement of patients and citizens in their own safety and the safer design of services
• measures and monitors the multiple dimensions that make up a safety culture
• develops ‘leading’ (before the event) as well as ‘lagging’ (after the event) performance measures to more 
• accurately assess the current experience of people using healthcare services."

Measuring harm: a summary of learning from a Health Foundation roundtable
The Health Foundation
October 2013

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Measuring a caring culture in hospitals

"Characteristics of the instruments included in this review could provide useful input for the design of a reliable and valid instrument for measuring a caring culture in hospitals."

Measuring a caring culture in hospitals: a systematic review of instruments
G Hesselink, E Kuis, M Pijnenburg, H Wollersheim
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003416

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Choosing a model to predict hospital admission

"Characteristics of patients identified by the algorithms provide useful information in the design/costing of intervention strategies to improve care coordination/outcomes for these patients."

Choosing a model to predict hospital admission: an observational study of new variants of predictive models for case finding
J Billings, T Georghiou, I Blunt, M Bardsley
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003352

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The Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool

"Patient safety can be increased by improving the organization of care. A tool that evaluates the actual organization of care, as perceived by multidisciplinary teams, is the Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool (CPSET)."

The Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool: a valid and reliable instrument for measuring care process organization of health care teams
D Seys, S Deneckere, W Sermeus, E Van Gerven, M Panella, L Bruyneel, T Mutsvari, R Camacho Bejerano, S Kul, K Vanhaecht
BMC Health Services Research
2013, 13:325

Read more here.

Improving the safety of patients in England

"Place the quality of patient care, especially patient safety, above all other aims."

A promise to learn - a commitment to act: Improving the safety of patients in England
National Advisory Group on the Safety of Patients in England
August 2013

Read more here.

Patient empowerment in long-term conditions

"Although many measures of empowerment exist, no measure has been developed specifically for patients with long-term conditions in the primary care setting. This study presents preliminary data on the development and validation of such a measure."

Patient empowerment in long-term conditions: development and preliminary testing of a new measure
N Small, P Bower, CA Chew-Graham, D Whalley, J Protheroe
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:263

Read more here.

Speech: The silent scandal of patient safety

This speech, delivered by The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP on 21st June 2013, describes the issues with patient safety, and what the NHS needs to do to improve:

"Through better measurement and reporting of the extent of harm free care in our hospitals. But most of all, through by creating a new culture which engages and listens better to frontline staff so they help us to design systems that prioritise safety whatever the pressures."

Read the full speech here.