Executive summary of the consensus document of the HIV quality of care indicators. GESIDA updated.

This article aims to review the main information taken into account for the update of the GESIDA PLWH quality indicators. Finally 54 indicators covering a major part of the clinical activity in PLWH were defined. They evaluate the detection and diagnosis of PLWH, their follow-up and prevention, initiation and adaptation of ART, women's specific aspects, comorbidities, hospitalization, and AIDS-related mortality.

[GESIDA quality care indicators for the care of persons infected by HIV/AIDS]. / Indicadores de calidad asistencial de GESIDA para la atención de personas infectadas por el VIH/sida.

Spain has some tradition of quality assurance systems, although less than in Anglo-Saxon countries. However, there is scarce implantation of these systems in the field of HIV infection. While this scarcity could be explained by the uncertainty surrounding the disease at the beginning of the epidemic, for several years there has been solid scientific evidence on many features of the approach to this disease, established in the various treatment and clinical practice guidelines. Consequently, the AIDS Study Group [Grupo de Estudio del Sida (GESIDA)] designed the present quality of care indicators for persons with HIV/AIDS. The first draft was developed by a committee of health professionals, with the guidance of the Avedis Donebadian University Institute. This draft was then evaluated by a team of external reviewers and posted on the Web page of the Society's web page. Some of the suggestions were included in the final document, with 66 indicators (structure: 5, process: 45, results: 16) in the following areas: structural conditions, diagnosis and evaluation, follow-up and preventive interventions, follow-up of patients under treatment, specific aspects in women, comorbidities, hospitalization, mortality rates, training and research. In each indicator, the sections guaranteeing the indicators' validity and reliability are specified: justification of the indicator as a measure of quality, the healthcare dimension evaluated, mathematical formula, explanation of terms, population, type of indicator (structure, process result), data source, the standard to be achieved and commentaries on the validity of the indicator. Finally, 22 indicators deemed relevant were chosen. GESIDA believes that these indicators should be constantly monitored in all HIV units to identify their results at all times and thus be able to introduce improvement measures.

Making performance indicators work: the experience of using consensus indicators for external assessment of health and social services at regional level in Spain.

OBJECTIVES: To describe a methodology and the results of projects combining consensus processes for indicator development with methods of external assessment of health and social services. METHODS: Our methodology can be characterized by a four-step approach: (1) stakeholder involvement and creating an enabling environment, (2) using standardized consensus methods for indicator development, (3) using rigorous external evaluation methods to assess results and (4) developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives. We describe each step in detail and discuss factors of success and pitfalls based on our experience of applying the methodology in 648 health/social centres and reviewing overall 68,616 case records. RESULTS: We observe in four sectors (assisted living, elderly health care, care for people with drug abuse problems, and care for abused woman) improvements in overall quality improvement rates, ranging from 9.5% to 65.6%. Improvements in overall rates are accompanied by reduction in range of up to 48.8. CONCLUSIONS: The conscientious setting up of an enabling environment and the systematic involvement of professionals in designing indicators and setting standards is a key to improving performance. Our research may entail lessons for policy makers on the current debate on pay for performance models.

[Study of the healthcare background and psychosocial environment of the Maghrebian immigrant population in Catalonia [Spain]]. / El marco sanitario y el entorno psicosocial de la población inmigrante magrebí en Cataluña.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to gather information on the healthcare background and social environment of the Maghrebian immigrant population in Catalonia in order to guide the management and provision of social services and the work of the organizations supporting this collective. METHODS: To gather data, we used a questionnaire exploring healthcare and social variables, including stressors and social support. Data collection was performed by pollsters in Arabic. RESULTS: We performed 403 interviews. Most interviewees had a health card providing access to public healthcare and knew where to access healthcare. The most frequently used services were primary care and emergency departments. In primary care, almost all of the interviewees were provided explanations, but 30% were unable to understand them properly. Health professionals seemed to have inadequate awareness of cultural and religious differences. Work, housing, distance from the family, and legal status were stressful factors for more than half of this population. Social support was low. Three quarters of the interviewees felt lonely. More than half of this population had completely or partially fulfilled their expectations of migration, while 11% felt they were in a worse situation. CONCLUSIONS: The main areas for improvement are the provision of information on conditions of healthcare access, promotion of social interaction, the use of associations for immigrants especially during the first phases of the migration process and facilitating religious activities. Health professionals should be provided with training in intercultural issues.

[Design, implementation and evaluation of a management model of patient safety in hospitals in Catalonia, Spain]. / Diseño, implantación y evaluación de un modelo de gestión de la seguridad del paciente en hospitales de Cataluña.

Since its inception in 2006, the Alliance for Patient Safety in Catalonia has played a major role in promoting and shaping a series of projects related to the strategy of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, for improving patient safety. One such project was the creation of functional units or committees of safety in hospitals in order to facilitate the management of patient safety. The strategy has been implemented in hospitals in Catalonia which were selected based on criteria of representativeness. The intervention was based on two lines of action, one to develop the model framework and the other for its development. Firstly the strategy for safety management based on EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) was defined with the development of standards, targets and indicators to implement security while the second part involved the introduction of tools, methodologies and knowledge to the management support of patient safety and risk prevention. The project was developed in four hospital areas considered higher risk, each assuming six goals for safety management. Some of these targets such as the security control panel or system of adverse event reporting were shared. 23 hospitals joined the project in Catalonia. Despite the different situations in each centre, high compliance was achieved in the development of the objectives. In each of the participating areas the security control panel was developed. Stable structures for safety management were established or strengthened. Training in patient safety played and important role, 1415 professionals participated. Through these kind of projects not only have been introduced programs of proven effectiveness in reducing risks, but they also provide to the facilities a work system that allows autonomy in diagnosis and analysis of the different risk situations or centre specific safety issues.

A proposed adaptation of the EFQM fundamental concepts of excellence to health care based on the PATH framework.

OBJECTIVE: The use of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model in health care has found that this model is useful in promoting quality improvement, but its use in health care organizations is challenging because being a generic model, it does not cover the clinical aspects or the specifics of this field. For that reason, this article aims to bring the EFQM fundamental concepts of excellence closer to health care, using a specific model as a reference to this field: the Performance Assessment Tool for quality improvement in Hospitals (PATH) conceptual framework, developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. METHOD: A content analysis was performed to independently identify the contents that defined the elements of both frameworks. Then, using defined criteria, two independent researchers compared the contents of the elements of both frameworks. The elements from both frameworks that were equivalent were aggregated. Several experts discussed the aspects with discrepancies between the two comparisons. Finally, the EFQM framework is adapted to health care by adding to those aggregated elements the aspects that were exclusive from one of the models. RESULTS: The EFQM framework has many correspondences to a health care-specific framework. The EFQM-health care-adapted framework has eight quality dimensions, two of them (customer focus and safety) being overlapped with the other six (staff, results orientation, responsive governance, leadership and constancy of purpose, clinical effectiveness, and partnership development). This model also has two methodological dimensions (management by processes and facts and continuous learning; improvement and innovation). CONCLUSION: This adapted model seems useful for health care organizations, but it needs to be further used to corroborate this preliminary finding.