Understanding accreditation standards in general practice \u2013 a qualitative study

Tina Drud Due,Marius Brostrøm Kousgaard,Thorkil Thorsen

doi:10.1186/s12875-019-0910-2

Tina Drud Due, Marius Brostrøm Kousgaard + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-019-0910-2

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Journal: BMC Primary Care	Publication Date: Jan 31, 2019
Citations: 14	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Copenhagen

Abstract

BackgroundAccreditation is a widely adopted tool for quality control and quality improvement in health care, which has increasingly been employed for general practice. However, there is lack of knowledge of how accreditation is received and experienced by health professionals in general practice. This study explores how general practitioners (GPs) and their staff experienced the comprehensibility of accreditation standards and how they worked to increase their understanding of the standards. The study was conducted in Denmark where accreditation was mandatory in general practice from 2016 to 2018.MethodsThe study consists of qualitative interviews with general practitioners and staff from 11 general practices that were strategically sampled among practices set to receive their survey visit in 2017. Participants were interviewed twice; once during the preparation phase and once after the survey visit. GPs and staff were interviewed separately. The interviews were analysed inductively using thematic analysis.ResultsUnderstanding the requirements of the accreditation standards was a major challenge for the professionals when preparing for the accreditation survey visit. The participants attempted to increase their understanding of the standards in several ways including the use of regional support options and seeking out experts and colleagues. However, participants had mixed experiences with the various support options and many found the sense making work frustrating and time consuming.ConclusionThe results point to the importance of considering the level of specificity in accreditation standards and how to ensure an organisational set-up that can offer appropriate support to primary care clinics in terms of understanding what is required to meet the standards.

Highlights

Accreditation is a widely adopted tool for quality control and quality improvement in health care, which has increasingly been employed for general practice
This paper investigates how General practitioner (GP) and their staff experienced the comprehensibility of the accreditation standards and how they worked to improve their understanding of the standards
The analysis showed that understanding the requirements of the accreditation standards was a widespread challenge among the practices

Summary

Introduction

Accreditation is a widely adopted tool for quality control and quality improvement in health care, which has increasingly been employed for general practice. There is lack of knowledge of how accreditation is received and experienced by health professionals in general practice. Accreditation is a widely adopted tool for quality control and quality improvement in health care [1]. While accreditation originated in the hospital sector, accreditation has become prevalent in general practice in several countries e.g. Australia, New Zealand, US, UK and Holland [3, 4]. In spite of the prevalence of accreditation and the considerable resources required for system-wide implementation, there is a lack of research on important aspects of accreditation [7]. A review of the literature by Hinchcliff et al [7] only found 11 studies from general practice (compared to 79 from hospital settings)

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion