title: Made to measure? Assessing feasibility of quality indicators for district nursing.
abstract: Scant empirical information exists regarding the quality of district nursing (DN) services. This article reports the testing of 31 quality indicators (QI) in practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve DN teams provided patient notes for audit. External auditors completed audit forms by cross-referencing between DN office records, patient notes from home, electronic GP records and discussions with DN team leaders. A patient experience questionnaire was piloted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  277 (77%) patients' records were audited. Access to records was problematic. QIs required further refinement of their wording, modification of inclusion criteria, deletion of some QIs and inclusion of others. Telephone administration of the patient experience questionnaire was not feasible for the DN patient population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  QIs can not be used 'off the shelf' and need testing and modification before routine use. Trained, external auditors with clinical backgrounds ensure an informed, uniform, objective approach to data collection, which is desirable as QIs might inform commissioners in a competitive field in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. susan.horrocks@uwe.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horrocks
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ashton
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wye
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom