title: A qualitative analysis of a consensus process to develop quality indicators of injury care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Consensus methodologies are often used to create evidence-based measures of healthcare quality because they incorporate both available evidence and expert opinion to fill gaps in the knowledge base. However, there are limited studies of the key domains that are considered during panel discussion when developing quality indicators.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a qualitative content analysis of the discussions from a two-day international workshop of injury control and quality-of-care experts (19 panel members) convened to create a standardized set of quality indicators for injury care. The workshop utilized a modified RAND/UCLA Appropriateness method. Workshop proceedings were recorded and transcribed verbatim. We used constant comparative analysis to analyze the transcripts of the workshop to identify key themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified four themes in the selection, development, and implementation of standardized quality indicators: specifying a clear purpose and goal(s) for the indicators to ensure relevant data elements were included, and that indicators could be used for system-wide benchmarking and improving patient outcomes; incorporating evidence, expertise, and patient perspectives to identify important clinical problems and potential measurement challenges; considering context and variations between centers in the health system that could influence either the relevance or application of an indicator; and contemplating data collection and management issues, including availability of existing data sources, quality of data, timeliness of data abstraction, and the potential role for primary data collection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides a description of the key themes of discussion among a panel of clinical, managerial, and data experts developing quality indicators. Consideration of these themes could help shape deliberation of future panels convened to develop quality indicators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bobrovitz
authors.forename: Julia S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Parrilla
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santana
authors.forename: Sharon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Straus
authors.forename: Henry T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Stelfox
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D032921:Consensus; D003697:Delphi Technique; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*