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HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM PAPER HEALTH RESEARCH POLICY AND SYSTEMS.pdf (1.48 MB)

An evidence-based framework to measure quality of allied health care

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posted on 2023-05-18, 01:37 authored by Grimmer, K, Lizarondo, L, Kumar, S, Bell, E, Michael Buist, Weinstein, P

Background: There is no standard way of describing the complexities of allied health (AH) care, or its quality. AH is an umbrella term which excludes medicine and nursing, and variably includes disciplines which provide therapy, diagnostic, or scientific services. This paper outlines a framework for a standard approach to evaluate the quality of AH therapy services.

Methods: A realist synthesis framework describing what AH does, how it does it, and what is achieved, was developed. This was populated by the findings of a systematic review of literature published since 1980 reporting concepts of quality relevant to AH. Articles were included on quality measurement concepts, theories, debates, and/or hypothetical frameworks.

Results: Of 139 included articles, 21 reported on descriptions of quality potentially relevant to AH. From these, 24 measures of quality were identified, with 15 potentially relating to what AH does, 17 to how AH delivers care, 8 relating to short term functional outcomes, and 9 relating to longer term functional and health system outcomes.

Conclusions: A novel evidence-based quality framework was proposed to address the complexity of AH therapies. This should assist in better evaluation of AH processes and outcomes, costs, and evidence-based engagement of AH providers in healthcare teams.

History

Publication title

Health Research Policy and Systems

Volume

12

Article number

10

Number

10

Pagination

1-10

ISSN

1478-4505

Department/School

Wicking Dementia Research Education Centre

Publisher

BioMed Central

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Health policy evaluation

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