Quality indicators for the diagnosis and antibiotic treatment of acute respiratory tract infections in general practice: a RAND Appropriateness Method

Laura Trolle Saust, Lars Bjerrum, Magnus Arpi, Malene Plejdrup Hansen

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
198 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: To develop quality indicators for the diagnosis and antibiotic treatment of acute respiratory tract infections, tailored to the Danish general practice setting.

Design: A RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used.

Setting: General practice.

Subjects: A panel of nine experts, mainly general practitioners, was asked to rate the relevance of 64 quality indicators for the diagnosis and antibiotic treatment of acute respiratory tract infections based on guidelines. Subsequently, a face-to-face meeting was held to resolve misinterpretations and to achieve consensus.

Main outcome measures: The experts were asked to rate the indicators on a nine-point Likert scale. Consensus of appropriateness for a quality indicator was reached if the overall panel median rating was 7–9 with agreement.

Results: A total of 50 of the 64 proposed quality indicators attained consensus. Consensus was achieved for 12 indicators focusing on the diagnostic process and 19 indicators focusing on the decision about antibiotic treatment and choice of antibiotics, respectively.

Conclusion: These newly developed quality indicators may be used to strengthen Danish general practitioners’ focus on their management of patients with acute respiratory tract infections and to identify where there is a need for future quality improvements.
Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
Volume35
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)192-200
Number of pages9
ISSN0281-3432
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Antibiotics
  • general practice
  • respiratory tract infections
  • quality indicator
  • quality assessment
  • primary care

Cite this