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Development of a core set of quality indicators for paediatric primary care practices in Europe, COSI-PPC-EU

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Abstract

Paediatric ambulatory healthcare systems in Europe are, because of historical reasons, diverse and show strikingly different outcomes. All across Europe, the benchmarking of structures, processes and outcomes could reveal opportunities for improving Paediatric Primary Care (PPC). The aim of this study was to develop a set of Quality Indicators (QIs) to assess and monitor PPC in Europe. In a three-step process, we used the available external evidence and European expert consensus in a modified RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method (RAM) to develop an indicator set. (1) A broad literature and online research of published QI and guidelines yielded an inventory of 1516 QI. (2) A collaborative panel of paediatric senior experts from the European Academy of Paediatrics (EAP) and the European Confederation of Primary Care Paediatricians (ECPCP) from 15 European countries participated in a first consensus process to reduce the initial indicator inventory by eliminating not PPC-focused indicators and duplicates. (3) In a second consensus process, the panel rated the QI regarding validity and feasibility. The final QI set “COSI-PPC-EU” consists of 42 indicators in five categories of PPC: (A) health promotion/prevention/screening (13 QI), (B) acute care (9 QI), (C) chronic care (8 QI), (D) practice management (3 QI) and (E) patient safety (9 QI).

Conclusion: COSI-PPC-EU represents a consented set of a limited number of valid quality indicators for the application in paediatric primary care in different healthcare systems throughout Europe.

What is Known:

• Paediatric ambulatory healthcare systems in Europe are diverse and show strikingly different outcomes.

• There are known gaps in quality performance measures of paediatric primary care in Europe. Pre-existing sets of quality indicators are predominantly limited to national populations, specific diseases and hospital care.

What is New:

• A set of 42 quality indicators for primary paediatric care in Europe was developed in a multi-country collaborative effort. The method combined a systematic literature review and a consensus process among European paediatric experts.

• The quality indicator set can facilitate quality improvement of PPC. After studying the feasibility, providers can use COSI-PPC-EU to monitor, compare and improve performance of practices, regions and countries.

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Abbreviations

COSI:

Core set of quality indicators

COSI-PPC-EU:

Core set of quality indicators for Paediatric primary care practices in Europe

DGAAP:

German Academic Society for General Paediatrics

EAP:

European Academy of Paediatrics

ECPCP:

European Confederation of Primary Care Paediatricians

EU:

Europe

GP:

General practitioner

GRADE:

Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation, UK

NHS:

National Health Service, UK

NICE:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, UK

OECD:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PPC:

Paediatric Primary Care

QI:

Quality indicator

RAM:

RAND/UCLA appropriateness method

UEMS:

Union of European Medical Specialists

UNICEF:

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the panels for evaluating and rating the indicators: Angel Carrasco Sanz, Björn Wettergren, Elke Jäger-Roman, Arunas Valiulis, Peter Altorjai, Indre Butienne from EAP and several other country delegates, as well as members from EAP, ECPCP and DGAAP.

Funding

The scientific evaluation of the COSI project by Max Geraedts and Silke Auras was financed by a grant from the European Academy of Paediatrics, EAP. The literature research was possible with the financial support from the Spanish Paediatric Society AEP.

None of the panellists received travel or expense allowance especially for COSI-PPC-EU since the meetings took place at regular meetings of their organizations.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paediatric Primary Care Centre, Regensburg, Germany

    Dominik A. Ewald

  2. European Association of Primary Care Paediatricians, ECPCP, Rheinhausen, Germany

    Gottfried Huss

  3. Institute for Health Systems Research, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany

    Silke Auras

  4. Centro de Salud Virgen de África, Seville, Spain

    Juan Ruiz-Canela Caceres

  5. Medical School, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Adamos Hadjipanayis

  6. Department of Paediatrics, Larnaca General Hospital, Larnaca, Cyprus

    Adamos Hadjipanayis

  7. Institute for Health Services Research and Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Max Geraedts

Authors
  1. Dominik A. Ewald
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  2. Gottfried Huss
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  3. Silke Auras
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  4. Juan Ruiz-Canela Caceres
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  5. Adamos Hadjipanayis
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  6. Max Geraedts
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Contributions

Dominik A. Ewald and Gottfried Huss acted as European and national study coordinators from 2011 to 2013 and wrote the main part of the manuscript. Silke Auras prepared a draft of the methods and results sections. Juan Ruiz Canela was responsible for the literature research and screened with Gottfried Huss the scientific literature. Adamos Hadjipanayis is the secretary general of the EAP; he reviewed the manuscript and gave valuable advice, and he supported the project through all the years. Max Geraedts was the principal investigator who coordinated the evidence reviews, the foundation of the database and the statistical evaluation of the rating process. All the authors revised the manuscript before submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominik A. Ewald.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was not necessary to obtain from individual participants, because there were none included in the study.

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Communicated by Peter de Winter

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Ewald, D.A., Huss, G., Auras, S. et al. Development of a core set of quality indicators for paediatric primary care practices in Europe, COSI-PPC-EU. Eur J Pediatr 177, 921–933 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-018-3140-z

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