Cornerstones of a sustainable national quality policy: A qualitative study based on international expert opinions

Jonas Brouwers, Fien Claessens, Eva Marie Castro, Astrid Van Wilder, Kristof Eeckloo, Luk Bruyneel, Dirk De Ridder and Kris Vanhaecht

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2022, vol. 37, issue 6, 3312-3328

Abstract: Background National initiatives launched to improve the quality of care have grown exponentially over the last decade. Public reporting, accreditation and governmental inspection form the basis for quality in Flemish (Belgian) hospitals. Due to the lack of evidence for these national initiatives and the questions concerning their sustainability, our research aims to identify cornerstones of a sustainable national quality policy for acute‐care hospitals based on international expert opinion. Methods A qualitative study was conducted using in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with 12 renowned international quality and patient safety experts selected by purposive sampling. Interviews focussed on participants' perspectives and their recommendations for a future, sustainable quality policy. Inductive analysis was carried out with themes being generated from the data using the constant comparison method. Results Three major and five minor themes were identified and integrated into a framework as a basis for national quality policies. Quality culture, minimum requirements for quality education and quality control as well as continuous learning and improvement act as cornerstones of this framework. Conclusions Complementary to the current national policy, this study demonstrated the need for profound attention to quality cultures in acute‐care hospitals. Policymakers need to provide a control system and minimum requirements for quality education for all healthcare workers. A model for continuous learning and improvement with data feedback loops has to be installed in each hospital to obtain a sustainable quality system. This framework can inspire policymakers to further develop bottom‐up initiatives in co‐governance with all relevant stakeholders adapted to individual hospitals' context.

Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3559

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:37:y:2022:i:6:p:3312-3328

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0749-6753

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Health Planning and Management is currently edited by Calum Paton

More articles in International Journal of Health Planning and Management from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().