Emergency Department Quality

measurement is driven by comparing the individuals’’ or organizations’’ performance which results in a desire to either maintain or improve performance relative to the others and the reliability provided of the safety and quality services.

In the healthcare system’s quality, it is of importance if the aspects that necessitate measuring are determined. Monitoring of performance is dependent on information that is of good quality that can be achieved solely through employing systematic process that collects date consistently. This is where the KPIs step in and is used in aiding performance monitoring and subsequently contributed to performance improvement. However, for the full effectiveness of the KPIs clear definition should be employed to

The indicators’ gross list was generated based on a literature review from the European countries. The key sources included a systematic review of the emergency department quality indicators and that of evidence for the emergency department quality indicators. Other sources include the consensus studies and the quality measures identified by healthcare research agencies. Some of the indicators such as ambulance diversion and patient satisfaction were not included in the gross list. The identified 43 time-critical conditions and potential indicators were categorized on the basis of source and scope of each indicator and formed categories including global indicators, tracer conditions, specific indicators for the emergency department, triage-specific indicators and indicators existing from the national care quality databases. The literature review yielded a number of 8 time-critical conditions and 35 potential indicators for the expert panel’s review. The indicator list comprised of 23 process, 2 structural indicators and 7 outcomes. The 43 time-critical and potential indicators encompassed 21 indicators, 4 global indicators, and 8 time-critical conditions, 6 admission specific indicators for the emergency department and 4 triangle-specific indicators from the existing Danish care quality data

It also facilitates benchmarking within organizations to highlight the improvements in safety and quality over time. The benchmarking also aids in identifying areas that need improvements.

• Service user choice: KPIs supports the choice of service users by availing performance results hence facilitating comparisons.

• Accountability: this is done through the facilitation of comparisons of an organization with another to their stated objectives.

• Identifying areas necessitating further investigations

• Public reporting

Conclusion

Identifying the appropriate KPIs in the healthcare sector is not a task of a trivial nature. KPIs is often confused with the general metrics since it can be measured. However, the KPI goes beyond this by tying into an organizations goals. It should be quantifiable, reflect the critical success factors, show progress in relation to an organization’s goals and evaluate an organization’s performance over a given period of time. Unlike a standard metric, KPI is usually tied to an agreed upon and definable