You can’t improve what you don't measure
Measuring, monitoring and reporting quality and performance are fundamental components of safety and quality systems in healthcare and human services organisations
Measurement enables healthcare organisations to identify areas for improvement, track progress and be accountable for the care they deliver. In health care there are many different metrics that can be used to measure quality and performance. These may include measures of processes (such as adherence to clinical guidelines) and outcomes of health care (such as mortality rates, readmission rates, clinical incident rates and patient satisfaction).
One way ACHS can help Quality Managers track and measure their quality and safety performance is through our Clinical Indicator Program (CIP), the world’s largest dedicated clinical indicator data collection and reporting service. Established in 1989, the aim of CIP was to give ACHS members a consistent and valuable way of measuring, benchmarking, and tracking their performance.
Organisations that participate in CIP submit their data every six months via an online interface. The data is analysed, and results are provided in the form of general and peer-comparative reports. Healthcare organisations also get an annual analysis of their clinical indicator results, trended over several years.
Every year, ACHS releases the ‘Australasian Clinical Indicator Report’ (ACIR), which examines the clinical indicator data that is submitted to the CIP for the past eight years, and highlights significant trends and variations in the data over time. It includes commentary from collaborating specialist colleges, associations, societies and other clinical organisations, which provides context for the trends and variations that are observed in the data. This report assists organisations to determine their own improvements within a national context.
The latest report, showcasing data from 2014-2021, reveals key areas in the healthcare sector that have been impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Feature Report demonstrates the impact to the following clinical areas through analysis of submitted clinical indicators: Anaesthesia & Perioperative Care, Day Patient procedures, Intensive Care, and Emergency medicine. The data shows deteriorations in indicators around patient management, from non-admission due to inadequate resources to patients requiring significantly longer stays in the recovery room post-anaesthesia.
In launching the latest report, ACHS President, Professor Len Notaras AO said “Clinicians continue to value the Report as it drives quality improvements in healthcare by building a clear understanding of where improvements can be made. With more than 26,000 data submissions included there is no other comparable dataset in the world which has the same statistical depth to it”.
Learn more about CIP here and to read the latest ACIR click here.
